Best Kept Secret
by SalSassy
Summary: AU where Emily and Sean are together and Hotch doesn't know.
1. Chapter 1

"Sweetie…I…I..I'm going to be late. Mhm baby I have to meet my sister for lunch." "You're my lunch. Just stay and I'll make it worth your while." "So tempting but you know I haven't seen my sister in a few months now. I love all my siblings but we're the closest in age." Emily laughed at the smirk on her boyfriend's face and she reached down to put her sling-back, open-toe heels on. He stopped her movements and kneeled down in front of her to kiss the top of her foot before sliding the shoe on. "You know I wasn't aware that my name was Cinderella."

"That's it come here you." Emily shrieked and laughed as she jumped up to run from her significant other. He caught her as she tried to slide across their bed and tickled her until she was barely able to breathe and laughing. "Baby…Stop" she managed to get out between giggles. "Sean! I gotta pee." He reluctantly pulled away only for Emily to push him on his back and straddle his thighs. "You didn't even have to go.", Sean pointed out. "Damn Sherlock you're good." They both laughed and she lowered her face to his and kissed him tenderly. "Emmy I'm going to miss you."

"I'll" Kiss. "Only" Kiss. "Be" Kiss. "Gone For" Kiss. "A Few Hours."

Sean seemed to accept this and released Emily from his hold. "Babe am I going to ever meet your family?" Emily finally got her shoes on before turning back to him. "Of course. You're not a secret but I just don't want my mom to find out. Can we talk about this when I come back, I'm already late?" Sean hugged her and kissed her forehead "Yeah we can talk when you get home. I do have to work a half shift at the restaurant so you might beat me back." Emily gave Sean one last peck on the lips before leaving the apartment.

"Hey Whit!" Ashlynn Prentiss turned around at the sound of her childhood nickname. "Sly!" Emily and Ashlynn were born 10 months apart so everyone treated them like twins. They always did everything together and would get caught harassing their siblings and neighbors. Emily was nicknamed Sly because she was the sneakier one who would do things without drawing attention to herself. Ashlynn was dubbed Whit because she'd always think of some excuse or reason for what the pair would be caught doing. They both had brown eyes, freckles, and burgundy hair. As they got older, they both altered their appearance. Emily kept her hair dyed a dark brown of even a jet black; Ashlynn went between a bolder red and a honey blonde. They both covered their freckles with foundation and kept their wild curly hair straightened at all times.

Emily's appearance was always one of the big bones of contention in her relationship with Sean. Her and Sean met about two months before she joined the BAU so he knew what she looked like. He'd never admit it out loud but he hated that she covered her arm tattoo with body makeup every time she had to go to work. He knew that Emily and her siblings decided that a full sleeve dedicated to their brothers Freddie and Frankie who were firefighters that died on the job in Miami. He never liked that she felt the need to hide who she truly was because of prying eyes and rumors at the FBI. Sean never understood why she lived two different lives between those close to her and her team.

"So how are you and the beau?" Emily's smile widened at the mention of Sean. "We're in a really good place." Emily started browsing through the racks of clothes trying not to let Ashlynn see her face. Ashlynn knew her little sister all too well and knew that something was on her mind. "But?" Emily turned around with her brow furrowed in confusion, "Hhm?" "You said that you guys were good but I'm sensing a but in there somewhere." Emily started biting her bottom lip and Ashlynn knew that it was time to go in for the kill. "Sly this would look so good on you." Emily looked up and her eyes went wide. "You're kidding right?" Ashlynn rolled her eyes. "Just humor me please." Emily huffed in annoyance and dragged herself into the dressing room while Ashlynn followed. "I love this nude color on you." she was met with silence.

"Sly is this sourpuss face because of the outfit or the fact that you're losing yourself to your job." "Wait a minute Whit, I'm not losing myself to my job." "Yes you are."

Emily tried to leave the dressing room but Ashlynn stopped Emily and forced her to sit on the stool in the corner of the dressing room. "I'm telling you this because I love you and Sean loves you too much to fight with you over it. We have both drifted away from our natural look but you've taken it a step further. You are now this straight laced, bland, professional, detached FBI agent. You cover your tattoos and freckles with makeup, you keep your hair dyed dark, you wear loose fitting stiff clothes, and you act as if you have no personality. I mean look at you now, I don't anybody on your team has ever seen you like this." Emily turned to look in the mirror and knew her sister was right. She was extremely fit with abs that could revel Morgan's but still kept her feminine. She let her long curly hair cascade down her back in a half-up/half-down style. She had a lot of tattoos that were now on display. There was her entire arm sleeve that extended down to the back of her hand. It was a tattoo that her and her siblings got together after they buried their two oldest brothers. She had a tattoo on her collar bone and one that extended down the length of the back of her right leg. She also had the entire right side of her ribcage done with a portrait of her first child, Gino. Emily was wearing a skin tight maxi skirt with a cream colored fitted half shirt and dark red open toe pumps. Emily knew that Ashlynn was hurt and it hurt her more to know that Sean probably felt the same way.

"What is wrong with me Whit?" "Nothing is wrong with you. I just don't want you to lose pieces of you to this job. I want you to continue to sing and write music, cook, draw and paint, and be adventurous. You have always seen the good in people and places, so please all I ask is that you don't lose that doing this job. You don't talk about it much with any of us but please tell me that you talk about it with Sean?" Emily threw her head back whining. "I want to but I can't."

"Why not?" "Because my boss is his big brother." Ashlynn mouth made an O shape before she pursed her lips and said, "Does he know that?" "Of course he does but we've been together for nearly 6 years and he was ready to tell him before I took this job. I don't want this to put a wedge between us. He wanted to tell Hotch but he's so damn judgmental of Sean and his career choices! I am damn proud of Sean and the stuff between them is so bad that Hotch doesn't even know about Gino."

They left the boutique and Emily suggested that they pop in on Sean. He saw them before they saw him and he snuck up behind Emily and gripped her hips. She turned around in surprise before melting into a smile. "I'd hug you babe but I have God knows what on me and I don't want to get you dirty." The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped Emily and Sean out of their trance. "Sean this is my twin who's not my twin Ashlynn. Whit this is Sean." Introductions were made and Sean got them a table. By the time Emily came in he only had 30 minutes left on shift. When it was over he shared a humorous meal with the Prentiss sisters. "Guys I love you but I promised some girls that I model with that I'd have drinks with them. I love you and you two get home safe." Emily reached over for a hug, "I love you too."

Emily and Sean left the restaurant hand in hand. Unbeknownst to them, Rossi was in New York taking advantage of the team's time on stand down. He was visiting his latest squeeze, who was at least 35 years old if that, and she decided to have a photoshoot with him. Sean stopped Emily and turned her around in his arms and kissed her passionately. He lifted her off the ground and continued to kiss her. Sean reluctantly released Emily and put her down, "I love you." "I love you more Sean." "Impossible."

Sean rested his arm on Emily's shoulder and the two took off in the direction of Sean's apartment. Rossi couldn't believe how different Emily looked outside of work and couldn't help himself in taking a picture. He didn't give a damn about the guy she was sucking face with, but only that she was smoking hot and he couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't wait to tell the team so that they could get answers out of her.

Emily and Sean got home and entered the apartment barely separating themselves from each other's embrace. Emily trailed kisses down Sean's neck while he heard his phone ringing, "Baby my phone is ringing." Emily's kisses came back at full force, "Ignore it and take me to bed." "Yes ma'am"

 _One missed call_

 _Aaron (Big Bro)_

 _ **A/N: I got a PM about writing a Emily/ Sean story so I did just that. Not sure how many chapters there will be but this won't be a super long story. Leave me PMs or Reviews about what you want to see and I'll try to make it happen.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Emily and Sean woke to an awful ruckus at the front door. "Baby stay here. I'll go see who it is." "Mmm okay.", Emily murmured sleepily which made Sean smile. He pulled on his boxers and went to the front door. Sean opened the door only to come face to face with his big brother Aaron.

"Sean I called you. Actually, I called you more than once." "I was busy." Aaron smirked at his brother's admission. "I called you to tell you that I was flying in to spend time with you while my team is still on stand down. I didn't know that you had company for the night. We can just meet up tomorrow I guess. Is that okay?" Sean got slightly aggravated and decided to set his brother straight, "I don't have a guest for the night, I have a girlfriend. I've had this girlfriend for a while now, but yeah sure we can meet up tomorrow." Just as Hotch was about to leave, Emily walked out the bedroom rubbing her eyes and only wearing Sean's t-shirt. "Baby who was it?" Hotch's eyes nearly popped out of his head; he quickly put two and two together. "Prentiss?" Emily let out a gasp and tried to desperately have some modesty and pull Sean's shirt down further over her body. She was completely unprepared for Hotch's hostility towards her. "You're screwing my little brother? I'm your boss and you didn't think that you should've ran that by me? So what you just come to New York screw him and leave? Answer me Prentiss!"

Emily had tears streaming down her face and couldn't even form a response to Hotch. Sean was completely infuriated by now and decked his brother in the face. Hotch doubled over and Sean kept punching him in the chest and stomach until he stayed down. Emily finally snapped out of her state of shock and tried to desperately pull Sean off his brother. "Don't you ever talk to her like that. Emily is not some piece of ass to me and you will watch your fucking mouth when you talk to her. She doesn't have to inform you of anything going on in her personal life so you can go fuck yourself. Get the fuck out of my house now Aaron!" Hotch got off the ground and saw Emily's fearful expression which was mostly covered by Sean's completely pissed off expression and body. Sean watched Aaron leave only to turn around and see Emily sobbing. He tried to wrap her in his arms but she recoiled. "No Sean I should've seen this coming. Your brother doesn't think that I'm good enough for you. Maybe he's right."

"Baby I don't care about what Aaron thinks or feels. I am madly in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If I have to use every breath in my body to do so then I will." Emily finally stopped sobbing and looked up at Sean. "I love you too. I love you more than anything in this world and I want to spend the rest of my life with you too." "Good now can we go back to sleep." Sean asked Emily with a kiss on her lips.

The couple had a lazy day in until the late afternoon. Sean walked into the bathroom to see Emily pinning her hair up in a bun and he wrapped his arms around her waist. In between peppering her neck with kisses, she managed to get her makeup done in a small amount of time. "Should we actually have lunch with my ignorant brother?" Emily turned in Sean's arms, "Baby I am already going to have so much bullshit to deal with when we go back to work, so no I'd rather not." "Ok so I booked us a table at the restaurant. Don't object just agree." Emily smiled and kissed Sean in agreeance.

The happy couple showed up to the restaurant only for Emily to gasp in shock with watery eyes. "Daddy! What are you doing here?" she asked in between happy sobs. Emily's entire family was seated at the huge table. Emily was one of 11 children; she had 7 sisters and only one brother now that her other two were dead. Her father and stepmother were seated next to her grandparents. They all enjoyed an amazing meal full of laughs and stories. When dessert came around Emily was surprised to see everyone with a piece of cheesecake with only one letter on it. She looked up in confusion only to be met with devious smiles from her family. Everyone stood up and placed their desserts in order so that it spelled 'Will you marry me?' Emily turned around to see Sean on one knee and her grandmother's beautiful ring in a violet box.

"Yes! Yes I'll marry you" Emily practically screeched before jumping into Sean's arms. Hotch had walked around the city for the majority of the day before deciding to go by Sean's restaurant to smooth things over. When he got there, he saw Sean on one knee and Emily wiping tears away. In that moment, his phone buzzed with a text message.

 _Text from: Strauss_

 _Your team needs to be back in first thing Monday morning. This is not negotiable. We need all hands on deck._

Hotch's only saving grace for salvaging his relationship with his brother was that he could talk to Emily first. He forwarded the message to each of his team members except Emily. He sent her a separate text.

 _To: Prentiss_

 _We're being put back into rotation. You're needed back in the office by Sunday._

 **A/N: Hotch is a total dick so far. Will Sean and Emily ever tell him about Gino? What happened to Gino?**


	3. Chapter 3

"Babe, can I ask you a question?", Emily asked Sean as she massaged the tense muscles of his back. "Sure." Sean murmured from his position under Emily and his face pressed into the mattress. Emily grabbed the bottle of oil and drizzled more onto Sean's lower back before going back to the task at hand. "Why didn't you hate me when everything happened with John at Yale and having an abortion?" Emily felt Sean's breath hitch and she nervously bit her lip. "Nevermind. Sorry I brought it up." Sean raised his lower body up so that he turned over while Emily was still straddling him. "Emily look at me." Emily reluctantly looked down into Sean's emerald eyes and her lip started to quiver. She loved this man more than life itself and couldn't bear the thought of ever losing him. Sean raised up so that he was eye level with Emily; he saw tears swirling in her beautiful brown eyes. "How could I ever hate you? You were way too young to go through something like that to begin with and John was before I met you. I would never judge you on things you did when you were younger because I've never been in that situation, so I couldn't possibly fathom what it felt like. I felt like a piece of me died when you told me and I understood that you had to heal in your own time. I was in agony when you left but you came back and if leaving meant that I could see you and hold you again, then I wouldn't have it any other way. Baby I need you to listen to me, I fucking love you and I don't care about anything you did in the past. I only care about what has happened between us. I'm no saint either and you've always been there no matter what. Screw everybody else, Emmy you're my world and no one else matters and they never will." Sean wiped her tears with the pads of his thumbs.

He captured her lips in a sweet kiss and pulled her as close as humanely possible. Sean could never understand how Emily could want a screw-up like him. When he met her, he was an addict but she didn't care and helped him get clean. He relapsed twice and she was there never judging him. When he had his blow up with Aaron over law school, Emily was there encouraging him to follow his dreams and to go open a restaurant. His first two projects failed and he wanted to give up but Emily told him that the third time was a charm. Now, he's part-owner of the most popular restaurant in Manhattan; regardless of what his brother thought, Sean had made it and had the most important person in his world right by his side the entire time.

Emily felt herself melt into the comfort of her fiancé's arms and knew that she never wanted to be anywhere else ever again in life. As a little girl, Emily dreamed that she'd find a man that loved her the way her father loved her stepmother. Emily knew that no other man could compare to her father but Sean was damn near close to it. Emily and Sean had gone through the worst of times more than once and still held on. Emily couldn't hide the fact that she was disappointed in the fact that Sean had such an amazing relationship with her family but not his own. Lindsey Hotchner, Sean and Aaron's mother, often took Aaron's side which always made Sean feel like he was an outsider. 'Hotch needs to get his shit together', Emily thought to herself. She rested her head in the crook of Sean's neck and breathed in his manly scent. Sean kissed the top of her head and glanced over to see the time; it was then that he noticed her phone. "Baby I think you have a missed call, text, email, or something." Emily lifted her head but took her sweet time turning to the nightstand to grab her phone. She moved so that she was sitting in Sean's lap with her legs wrapped around his back. She read the text from Hotch and huffed out in annoyance which made Sean laugh. "Something wrong?", Sean asked not attempting to hide the humor in his voice. "Stand down is over and I have to be back at the office tomorrow." "You want me to check flights out?" Emily pouted and whined, "Yes please"

While Sean was searching for flights, Emily extracted herself from his lap and went into the bathroom to shower. As she started to undress, Emily felt Sean's arms wrap around her while he kissed her neck. "There's a flight in a few hours and a redeye. I booked you on the redeye." "Why would I want to get on a redeye flight when I could just leave in a few hours?" She felt Sean's smile on her neck while he continued to assault her neck with kisses. "Because what I'm about to do you will take more than a few hours. Have you forgotten that we're still celebrating our engagement future Mrs. Sean Hotchner?" Emily's response was to turn around and smile before hoisting herself up in his awaiting arms. "Do your worst Mr. Hotchner", Emily husked out as she nibbled at his pulse point.

Emily was so tired by the time that she got to the BAU on Sunday that she failed to notice her appearance. She had on a form-fitting, backless maxi-dress with a plunging neckline. Every one of her tattoos were visible and she had her long hair in a fishtail braid and pulled so that it rested over her right shoulder. She walked into the bullpen yawning before stopping abruptly and noticing that it was completely empty. She went to check the conference room only to find it empty as well. She begrudgingly walked down the catwalk and knocked gently on Hotch's office door after first doing the same to Rossi's. When she got no response, she walked down the few steps and went in the direction of Garcia's lair. She ran directly into Strauss causing her to nearly drop the files in her arm. "Agent Prentiss you scared me." "I apologize ma'am. I was just on my way to see Garcia." Strauss looked at Emily as she started to walk away, "Ms. Garcia shouldn't be here. Actually, none of you should be here until tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" Strauss shook her head before walking towards the elevators. "Prentiss."

Emily turned around to the sound of her name and came face-to-face with Hotch. "Strauss just told me that we aren't supposed to be here until tomorrow so why did I get a text from you saying that I was supposed to be here today?" Hotch cleared his throat, trying to swallow down his sudden nervousness, before answering, "So that I could talk to you one on one about what happened in New York." Emily snapped, "Oh you mean when you accused me of just being Sean's fuckbuddy or the part where you thought that I needed a permission slip to even be around Sean. Or my favorite part which is when you expected me to tell my boss about my personal life." "I'm more than your boss."

"I thought that too until you treated me like I was nothing in front of Sean. You are not my friend Hotch because friends don't treat people the way you've treated me since you met me. You've never trusted me because in your mind I've always had some sort of agenda. You need to take a look in the mirror Hotch because you're way more fucked up than either me or Sean. He's perfection compared to you. You're always miserable, you choose to be a workaholic, you make up any excuse to end a relationship, and you're a bastard to your 'friends'. I am your subordinate, not your friend, and I'll come back to the office tomorrow like the rest of the team _Sir._ " Hotch opened his mouth to speak and felt his jaw drop as he saw the shining ring on Emily's finger. "You're getting married?" Emily scoffed, "Yeah that's what people who are in love with each other and have been together for nearly seven years do."

Emily turned on her heels and went to the elevator. As the elevator doors opened, JJ ran right into Emily and dropped her phone. JJ looked Emily up and down before yanking her into the elevator and pressing the G for ground floor. As the elevator started to move, JJ flipped the emergency stop switch and caused the elevator to jerk quickly and stop. "JJ what the hell?" Emily looked over at JJ who looked like she'd burst at any given moment. "Em you look so hot!", JJ squeaked loudly and Emily finally looked down at her attire. "Fucking hell", she murmured under her breath. "Em I had no idea you had tattoos and they're so pretty. I didn't even know that your hair was that long or that you had such fantastic choices in fashion. Why don't you dress more like this at work?"

Emily unconsciously rolled her eyes, "Who'd take me serious? I'm a twenty-something tatted up mixed girl-" "Who busted her ass to get where she is and shouldn't care about what anyone says or thinks because she's drop dead gorgeous.", JJ said cutting her off. "Em screw everybody and be you. Do you really think that any of us believe that 27-year-old Emily Prentiss is as straight laced as she seems? Emily we don't care about what you come from. "

"Yeah I've heard that before." Emily saw the confused look on JJ's face. "JJ my mother is white and my father is Black and Australian. I got my mother's fair skin but my father's everything else. I have naturally burgundy hair, freckles, and thick curly hair, and I got my curves from my dad's side. I cover the freckles with makeup, keep my hair dyed and straightened, and wear loose clothes because I hate the attention." JJ felt for her because she knew all too well what it like to get constant unwanted attention because of her body. So instead she reached down to pick up her phone and screeched again. Emily jumped back and grabbed her ear, "JJ you're going to burst my eardrum." "Is that an engagement ring? I didn't know you were seeing someone."

Emily smiled, "Yeah we've been together for almost 7 years and he proposed this past weekend." "OMG you have to tell me everything starting with who he is." "I don't know if I'm ready for all that." Before JJ could protest Emily switched the elevator back on and hurried out of it the minute the doors opened. "I'll see you tomorrow JJ."

Hotch went into his office and plopped down on his couch. "How did an apology turned into her biting my head off?" "Because you're an abrasive dumbass Aaron." Rossi's voice in his doorway caused him to jump a mile in the air. "What are you doing here?" "I locked my key in my office when I came to get some files and had to go find maintenance. When I came this way, I caught the tail end of your conversation with Emily, who by the way looked downright sexy. So, your little brother was the one she was sucking face with in New York?" Hotch's shocked expression made Rossi laugh. "I was in New York talking with my publisher and an acquaintance and I saw the two of them together." "So you just watched them?" "In my defense she looked like a model with tattoos and I couldn't help myself." Rossi showed Hotch the picture and his gut wrenched. "Sean's finally happy.", Hotch whispered. "You say something?" "Uh no I didn't say anything." "Aaron you need to fix whatever is going on. Emily's a damn good agent and you'd be a fool to lose her over a misunderstanding."

Emily spent the rest of her day unpacking clothes and replying to all the people that responded to her engagement. Her family had been busy spreading the news so she returned home to dozens of cards, gifts, and a few hundred emails and text messages. Emily picked up her phone to call Sean. "Hey baby, I take you got home safely?" Emily smiled, "You know my home is with you but yes I got back safely. I'm sorry in advance for the amount of congrats that you're about to flooded with." Sean laughed into the phone, "You're too late. How did everything go with work? Are you on a case?"

Emily hated lying to Sean but she didn't want to be the cause of yet another fight between the Hotchner brothers. "Just paperwork. How did the new pastry chef do?" Sean knew that Emily was holding back something from the sound of her voice. "He's pretty full of himself." "What chef isn't?" "Ditto. I have to go back to the restaurant so get some sleep sweetie. I love you." "I love you more." "Impossible."

Emily decided to take JJ's advice about just being herself. She opted for minimal makeup on her face. She also washed her hair and let it dry in its natural state and didn't bother to cover her tattoos with makeup. She dressed in peep-toe pumps, tan form fitting slacks, and a casual gray shirt. Emily walked into the bullpen and her worst fears came true…..


	4. Chapter 4

Emily's breath caught in her throat as she looked at her desk. Before she could move a muscle, she heard, "Emilia it's so good to see you." Emily couldn't find her voice at first but managed to get out, "Mrs. Hotchner it's nice to see you too." Emily was oblivious to the bewildered looks that the rest of the team sent her way because she was solely focused on Hotch and his mother standing directly in front of her desk. Morgan spoke first, "Princess you look-"

"Super sexy", Garcia cut in.

Reid was looking at Emily as if he'd seen an alien. "You look different Emily. I mean you-"

"Are mixed. What's the big deal?" JJ cut Reid off a little testily. Rossi held his hand out and Morgan and Garcia both slapped 100 dollars into his hand. He simply said, "I told you what I saw and you doubted me." Emily was confused, "What you saw? What are you talking about Rossi?"

Lindsey Hotchner cut into the conversation, "Dear, Aaron was just telling me about the misunderstanding that you and he had. Care to explain?" Emily was pissed off all over again, "With all due respect ma'am, don't you think that Aaron's old enough to fight his own battles?" "You seriously went to your mother? What are you twelve?" Emily folded her arms across her chest waiting for an answer but all eyes were now trained on her left hand. "Sean proposed to you? I didn't think that it was that serious." Emily tried her best to not disrespect Sean's mother but it was a hard thing to do considering that she was starting to sound just like Hotch. She started to turn on her heels but stopped and whipped back around with fury in her eyes,

"The two of you love to treat Sean like garbage yet you both expect him to be there when your lives turn to shit. Sean and I have been together for 6 years, so yes Lindsey it's that serious. What's so wrong about me that makes me no good for Sean? The last time I checked, I was there for every surgery, business venture, failure and success, job interview, and breakdown and neither one of you were. Lindsey, Sean went broke paying all your medical bills while you put Aaron on a pedestal as your knight in shining armor. Aaron when you and Haley spilt, Sean paid all her bills until she was able to find a job because you were slowing down the process of the divorce. When Jack sprained his ankle at the zoo in New York and you forgot your insurance card, Sean used two months rent to pay the E.R. fee. The two of you treat him horribly and he's still there for the both of you. If you had the relationship that you pretend to have with him, then you would've known about our relationship." Emily ended her rant and was nearly in tears when she turned around and practically ran into her father and stepmother.

Jackson Prentiss was not a small man by any stretch of the imagination. He stood at 6'5 with a muscular and stocky build. His complexion was a little darker than Morgan's but his bright green eyes stood out from his freckled face. Diem Prentiss, Emily's stepmother, had shoulder length red hair with baby blue eyes. She came to Jackson's chest in height and had a curvier build similar to Emily's. Diem saw tears in Emily's eyes and nearly flew into a rage. She had married Jackson when Emily was three and she was a fierce mama bear to all her babies. Jackson never liked Lindsey from the way that Sean talked about her and he now knew why. He and Diem had heard the entire thing and it took a tremendous amount of self-control to remain quiet. Lindsey broke the awkward tension, "So did you know about Sean's proposal?" Diem stepped right in Lindsey's face, "Yes we knew. Are you mad because you didn't know or because you were the last person that Sean would've told?" Lindsey raised her hand but it was caught mid-air by Diem, "Don't fuck with me or my daughter. The last thing that you want to do is piss me off. We are honored to have Sean as a son-in-law even if we can't stand the rest of his bloodline." Lindsey yanked her arm away and massaged her wrist as if she were really hurt. Emily stepped in between her stepmother and Mrs. Hotchner. "Hotch I'm going to take a long lunch. I'll clear it with Strauss.", she said without even turning around to face him or the team.

Sean paced the length of his apartment pissed at the fact that his brother brought their mother in on this beef Aaron created with Emily. JJ had called him and told him about what happened. The last thing he wanted was a collision of Emily's parents with his mother. He knew that they already didn't like her and that was his fault. He found himself ranting about Aaron and his mother more times than he could remember; he never wanted Emily's family to think that they were horrible people because they weren't….they just went about things the wrong way. Sean called Emily about four times before she answered, "Hey baby can you talk?" Sean heard Emily sniffle through the phone. "Sean I'll never be good enough for your family. Nothing I ever do will be good enough." "Emmy-"

"My God Sean what are they going to say when they find out that I had your baby at 23!" Sean felt his stomach churn when she mentioned their son. Burying their two-year-old was the hardest thing Sean ever did in his life. Gino died from pneumonia right after his second birthday. Emily and Sean blamed themselves and never quite moved on from his death. Emily threw herself into work and Sean relapsed back into cocaine. Instead of leaving him like she probably should have, Emily stayed with Sean and helped him get clean once again. Besides her family the only other person that knew about Gino was Haley. Haley would call him constantly to check on him. She always sent flowers to his grave and she always assured both Sean and Emily that it wasn't their fault.

Sean felt like a coward because two years into their relationship, Emily wanted Sean to tell his family about her. It felt ridiculous that she had to keep their relationship a secret from Hotch when she saw him at work every day. When Emily was pregnant, the first person that Sean wanted to tell was Hotch. He hated himself for telling his big brother about his first heartbreak; Aaron compared any woman he dated to his first love Sharon. Sharon not only cheated on Sean but she emptied his bank accounts and ran off with her lover. Sharon had convinced Sean to try cocaine one time and it took him three years to try and get clean, which was when he met Emily.

"Em baby please don't cry. I'm going to get on a flight and I'll be there tomorrow okay?" "Sean you-" "I am not letting you deal with my shitty family by yourself. You don't deserve any of that and I need to straighten all this out." "What about the restaurant?" "They'll be fine for a few days without me. Don't argue just agree because I'm coming anyways." "Sean you can't come tomorrow. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Gino's death and you have to go to his grave since I'm not there." "Baby I know that and I'm still coming tomorrow, _after_ I go to his gravesite." "Are you ever going to tell Aaron about him?"

"Does he deserve to know?" Emily bit her lip before answering, "As much as it hurts me every day that my baby boy is gone, Aaron is still your brother and I think that you should tell him. Sweetie neither one of us are going to heal from Gino's death overnight and you need your family. You guys have got to bury the hatchet because life is too short and baby I can't take much more of the hostility and animosity between you and your brother. If you won't fix it for me then please do it for Gino. Jack was his cousin, Lindsey was his grandmother, and Aaron was his uncle. They need to grieve him too."

Sean knew that Emily was right and he let the tears he'd been holding back fall. "Em…I..I miss him so much." "I miss him too, so much." Emily wiped the tears that were running down her face and jumped slightly at the presence behind her.

"You miss who?" Emily raised the phone back up to her ear, "Baby I'll call you back when I get home, I love you."

"I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but who do you miss?" "My son."


	5. Chapter 5

Emily took a deep breath before slowly blowing it out, "Hotch I'm not in the mood for anymore judgement from you or your mother." "Emily wait. I didn't know you had a son. Was it before Sean? Is Sean apart of his life? Are you and the father still on speaking terms?"

Emily looked at Hotch with a mixture of frustration at his ignorance and annoyance over his pestering. "Are the father and I-? Yeah I'm still on speaking terms with the father seeing as how we're engaged." Hotch stood dumbfounded until Emily turned her back again and started to walk off. He reached out to her and she turned slowly, "Why didn't I know that you and Sean had a son and where is he?"

Emily scoffed, "You didn't know because he knew that you'd constantly compare me to Sharon. Oh, and my son he's in St. Graves Cemetery in New York. "

"He's dead! You let my nephew die!" Hotch screamed at the top of his lungs which alerted the rest of his agents in the bullpen. Emily told her parents that she needed to make a call before she met them down in the lobby, so they weren't there to witness Hotch and Emily's newest altercation. Hotch was so consumed in his anger that he never saw the punch coming. Emily's fist connected hard with Hotch's face and sent him to the ground hard. Shocked gasps made Emily look up and her face turned as red as her now swollen knuckles; she was so embarrassed that she ran to the stairs and out the building as fast as she could.

"Hotch, man what the hell is going on between you and Emily?" Morgan asked as he helped a bleeding Hotch up. Reid rushed to get Hotch some napkins to stop his heavy bleeding nose. "Damn that girl's got a right hook." Rossi said as he all but threw a bag of ice at Hotch. "I told you to fix this Aaron, not make it worse." Morgan turned to Rossi in surprise. "You knew about this and didn't say anything? I thought we were a family and you guys are keeping secrets from us. First we find out that Emily is mixed which none of us knew. Then we find out that she's engaged to Hotch's baby brother. And now we find out that she may or may not have had a son that could be dead. What the hell is going on around here?"

"Emily what's going on? Why is your hand red and swollen? Emily, sweetie answer me." Emily looked at Diem with watery eyes, "I told him about Gino.", she managed to get out through a broken smile. Diem wrapped Emily up in the tightest hug and consoled her. Emily and her parents left the building and went back to their vast home in Alexandria. The car ride was mostly in comfortable silence until Jackson spoke up, "Sly we have a surprise for you." "If it's more engagement stuff then I'm really not in the mood.", Emily spoke from the backseat. "We'll just have to see now won't we." Jackson responded as he pulled the sleek, gray Range Rover into the driveway.

The trio got out the SUV and Emily was the last to walk through the front door. She closed the door and walked sluggishly through the foyer until she reached the living room and let out a brilliant smile and excited gasp. "SLY!", nearly all of Emily's sibling said in unison. Sloan, Emily's big brother, came around the kitchen island and lifted his baby sister off the ground in a bear hug. Emily's sisters, Ashlynn, Laurie, Payson, Kai, Grace, Ariel, and Scarlett, all nudged his shoulder griping about him stealing all the hugs. As Emily was greeted by all her siblings, Diem pulled Jackson to the side to have a conversation. "Sweetheart I'm worried about Emily. She is really hurt by the way she's being treated by Aaron. She is still having to deal with her grief surrounding Gino, not to mention that the distance between her and Sean is probably affecting her now more than ever. What should I do?" Jackson knew years ago that when Diem told his kids that she loved them, that she was a keeper. He knew that Elizabeth thought that he'd turned the kids against her, when in truth it was her own doing. Diem and Elizabeth have had a long standing battle over the kids, but Jackson thought that it was time that it all came to an end.

"You should talk to Liz." "Excuse me?", Diem exasperated through a shocked expression. "You want me to talk to your crazy ex-wife about our daughter?" "Emily is Liz's daughter too." "Yeah she's got a funny way of showing it. I mean come on, she bailed on her kids before Emily could even talk." Jackson ran his hand over his face and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just do it for me okay. You will understand why I'm asking you to do this later on." Diem rolled her eyes, "Jack you better be happy that I love you."

Sean imagined what his reflection in the mirror would look like and hoped that by some sheer miracle he wouldn't terrify Emily. He cried the entire four hours that he spent at Gino's grave. He and Emily always did it together so that he could console her, but he was by himself this time, or so he thought. When Sean was standing to leave, a small hand on his shoulder made him jump. "Ambassador Prentiss? What are you doing here?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Ambassador Prentiss if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" Elizabeth gave a solemn smile to Sean, "The same reason anyone goes to a gravesite; I'm visiting someone close to me." "I'm so sorry for the way that came out. I actually have somewhere to be so I'll let you get to the rest of your day. " Sean brushed lightly past Elizabeth and headed to the airport.

It was a Saturday and she didn't have to work, so Emily didn't wake up until well in the afternoon. As soon as she woke up, she brushed her teeth and went to shower. When she came out the shower, Sean was sitting on her bed waiting for her. She shrieked like a schoolgirl and tackled him onto the queen-sized bed. "Damn Peyton Manning, that was a little intense." Emily gave a mock pout, "Aw is the wittle baby upset because he got sacked in the pocket." Sean flipped them until Emily was on her back and he had her hands pinned to the sides of her head. "Remind me again why I taught you football?" Emily smiled, intertwined their fingers, and said, "Because you got tired of me interrupting every five minutes because I was confused." Sean looked at Emily's beautiful face and couldn't resist kissing her full inviting lips. "This is true."

Emily deepened the kiss and wiggled her hands free from Sean's grasp before running her small hands through his thick blonde hair. Sean's mischievous hands roamed down Emily's body until he squeezed her inner thighs. Emily moaned into Sean's mouth and he moved one of his hands up and down her spine, causing her to shudder. Emily pulled away from their kiss breathless, "Sean?" A mumbled kiss against her neck was the only answer she got. "How hard was it for you today?" Sean immediately stopped knowing that she was talking about Gino's gravesite. "The hardest thing that I've had to do in a long time." "I'm sorry I wasn't there with you." Sean shushed her with a single kiss to the lips. "You couldn't have been and it's okay I promise. My question is why are you in just a towel?" Emily giggled and then rose to a sitting position. She toyed gently with the knot at the top of the towel before standing up and creating a small distance between her bed and the bathroom, "Why Mr. Hotchner? Do you want to take it off?" "Actually-"

Sean's sentence was cut off by Emily's towel hitting him square in the face. He looked back up to her with devilish eyes. "The towel's off so now what?" Sean asked Emily innocently. "Now you put your money where your mouth is." Sean all but threw Emily on the bed and had his wicked way with her.

 _2 hours later_

Sean was watching Emily sleep and couldn't think of a more peaceful thing to do. Her curly mane was fanned out across his chest while her face was nuzzled into his right shoulder. He actually counted the number of freckles on her face, which turned out to be 47. The curvature of her body fit like a puzzle piece to his. The slow rise and fall of her chest soothe and comforted his nerves a little. Sean thought back to the time that he'd first spent the night with Emily 6 years ago.

 _Sean told Emily that there wasn't room to be a kid in his childhood. He told her that when he wasn't getting beat by his old man, his mom was telling him to make sure that he did what it took to not make his dad mad. Emily's heart broke and she told Sean to come by her place later on that night. When Sean got to her place, the two of them played childhood games for the rest of the night. When they played Twister, Sean admitted that he really wanted to kiss her. That threw Emily off balance and she ended up falling directly on top of him. Sean made the first move and captured her lips in the sweetest of kisses. In that moment, he knew that she'd ruined him for any other woman. They both came down from sugar highs and collapsed against one another on the floor. Sean woke first and just watched her sleep for nearly an hour._

Hotch heard a knock on his door mid-afternoon on Sunday. He went to the door and opened it to see a very pissed off Sean. He stepped aside and only got as far as closing the door, "Where is she Aaron? Huh where is she?" Sean didn't wait for an answer and went further into the apartment, "Mom! I know you're here so you might as well come out!" Lindsey Hotchner came out of the guest bedroom and sat down nervously on the couch in the living room next to Aaron. Sean was fuming and refused to sit down; he looked directly at the both of them before screaming, "What in the hell is wrong with the two of you?"

"Don't you dare talk to your mother like that Sean." "Mom stop with the pity party. You knew exactly what you were doing when you went to Emily's job to confront her. And Aaron you knew exactly what you were doing when you brought mom into this. Let me tell the both of you something. I was the one that didn't want to tell you about Emily. I didn't want her to be subjected to the childish, spiteful games that the two of you play. I didn't want either one of you to tell her that she wasn't good enough because she's the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn't want the two of you to put that type of venom into our son." Lindsey gasped in shock, "Son? You have a son?"

Sean shook his and took deep breaths so that he wouldn't cry, "Had a son. We had a son. When Emily got pregnant four years ago, the first person that I wanted to tell was my big brother. I couldn't do that because you're so knee-deep in bullshit that you wouldn't have even cared. Every day I talked to her belly and I noticed every little changing detail of her body. Gino was born six days past his due date. He was 8 pounds and had Emily's eyes. He was…he was…he was perfection at its finest. Even after having him, Emily still wanted me to tell you guys about him. I refused because Aaron, you've managed to ruin every relationship that I've had with a woman since Sharon, even if it was a friendship. I was not about to put Emily through that. Haley knew about him but that was only because she came over after she served you with divorce papers and met Gino for the first time. It was a week before his 2nd birthday when we noticed that he had a cold that he was shaking. We took him to the ER and they sent us home with medicine. Emily kept saying that he wasn't getting better and I kept telling her that we needed to give the medicine time to work. The week of his birthday, Gino was admitted to the Pediatric Floor of the hospital for acute pneumonia. We celebrated his second birthday in that room; two days after his birthday, he was rushed to the PICU. We had to watch our son die that same day. I watched the breath leave my son's body and the woman I love lose her reason for living. I had to bury my child and try not to blame myself. Neither one of you knows how that feels nor do you know hard it was for me and Emily to come back from that!"

Hotch felt stray tears fall and saw that Sean was barely keeping it together. "I'm an addict mom. Yes, Sharon got me hooked on cocaine but Emily got me clean three times. She got me clean when she first met me, two years into our relationship, and after we buried Gino. I'm not good enough for her and I never will be yet she still loves me. We buried our son and she still loves me and the two of you just want to ruin the best thing that I've ever had with anyone." Sean couldn't hold back anymore and broke down into sobs. Hotch wrapped his arms around his baby brother and kept saying "I'm so sorry" over and over. Lindsey Hotchner's heart broke for her son and she dissolved into tears. The Hotchner family was finally starting to heal.

"Thank you for meeting me" "I have to say that I was quite surprised when you reached out to me" "Jackson seems to think that we should talk." "Why would he want his ex-wife and current wife to talk?" Diem pushed the snide remark that was on the tip of her tongue back and instead responded, "It's about Emily." That got Elizabeth's attention right away. "Is she okay?" Diem scoffed, "No she's not okay and you wouldn't know that would you?" Elizabeth surprised herself by remaining calm. "Jackson wants us to talk because Emily lost her child." "How would you know that?" "Contrary to what you believe, I still keep up on the things in my children's lives." "YOUR children? You walked out on them and I had to step up."

"Diem if you want to rant and lose your composure, then I can just leave. You reached out to me; it wasn't the other way around. Jackson wants us to talk because as a mother, I know what losing a child feels like." "Are you kidding me? I lost Frankie and Freddie too and they weren't as young as my grandson was." "I wasn't talking about Frankie and Freddie. If you would let me speak for more than 30 seconds, then you might learn something." Diem raised an eyebrow but nonetheless refrained from cutting Elizabeth off again. "Sloan was a twin. You wouldn't know that because the only people that do are me, Jackson and Sloan. Sloan's twin brother was Seth. Seth died when Sloan was 18 months old. Seth died of leukemia. Jackson and I struggled to keep the love we had for one another alive after that. We went about dealing with his death the wrong way. We started to have all these kids, foolishly hoping that they could replace him. It got to the point where we had 11 children and I just couldn't bring myself to love them the way that I loved Seth. It wasn't fair to them but I left because I needed to heal. If I didn't heal my way, then I'd ruin my children for life. It may look like I took the easy way out but I didn't; even after the divorce, I lived in agony for years before I finally forgave myself for not only Seth but all my children." Diem reached across the table and gently grabbed Elizabeth's trembling hand. "I'm sorry that you went through that. I could never understand because I've never been able to carry a child. I had fertility issues that prevented me from getting pregnant, so when I met Jackson I fell in love with all the kids."

Elizabeth used her napkin to catch the tears that fell from her eyes, "As a mother there is nothing that you can do to soothe Emily's hurt. You have to be there for her no matter what and let her heal in her own time and own way." The two women opted not to eat lunch and instead leave the heavy emotional atmosphere. Before either woman got to their cars, Diem turned and asked, "Where is Seth buried?" "St. Graves Cemetery in New York."


	7. Chapter 7

"It's not going to fit! Sean, will you slow down before it gets stuck." A knock at the door interrupted the couple. Elizabeth Prentiss heard a loud thump and then "Oh for fucks sake", which she recognized to be her daughter's voice. The front door swung open and Emily gasped in shocked before plastering on the fakest smile that she could muster. "Hi Liz, what are you doing here?" Hearing Emily called her Liz hurt but she also knew that she had no right to expect her children to call her Mom after all this time.

"Can I come in?" "Uh yeah" Emily stepped aside and let Elizabeth enter her condo. "Am I interrupting something?" Elizabeth asked unable to hide the humor in her voice. Sean was tangled up in yarn. Emily laughed. "We were in the middle of making an art piece for the Pediatrics wing in a hospital. Elizabeth took a seat on the couch across from the couple on the floor, "For the children's section of Mercy Hospital?" Emily and Sean stopped what they were doing, "Liz how did you know that?" "You weren't the first Prentiss to donate a piece of art to the Pediatrics floor of Mercy Hospital." Emily furrowed her brows in confusion. Her confusion deepened when Sean said, "At the cemetery, you were visiting a child you lost too right?" Elizabeth nodded her head yes and Emily finally connected the dots. "You were going to visit Seth, weren't you?"

Elizabeth's eyes went wide, "How did you know about Seth?" Emily laughed before saying, "Sloan has never been able to keep a secret from me. Nobody else knows and it's not my place to tell them. That decision is up to you, daddy, and Sloan. How long have you known about Gino?" "I found out for sure about a year ago but I didn't know that your—er-" "Fiance." Emily supplied. "Fiance was the father. I just assumed that it was someone else. So how long have you two been together?" "Six years", Sean said lower than he expected but continued, "Look I know that I'm not the first choice that anyone would have for Emily but-" "I'm sorry I don't mean to cut you off but what makes you think that? To my knowledge, Emily doesn't open up easily or fall for just anyone. As long as she's happy, I'm happy."

Emily's eyes welled up with tears, "You mean it?" Elizabeth nodded but was unprepared for Emily tackling her into a hug. Emily whispered in her ear, "Frankie told me when I was 10 why you left. I never hated you but I didn't know how to talk to you about it. I love you. I always have." Elizabeth let out a choked sob before hugging Emily tighter. "Thank you so much my sweet girl." Sean smiled at the sight in front of him. For years, Emily thought that her mother hated her when in truth she felt that all her children hated her. 'We might just be okay' Sean thought to himself.

Elizabeth pulled back from Emily and wiped her tears, "Now I won't lie to you Emily; healing will be an excruciatingly long and painful process. It will not be easy because you will feel like it should've been you. The first time you get pregnant, you might regret it or even feel like you shouldn't be pregnant. The both of you would have to love that child in a separate way from Gino. I'm telling you from experience, any other children you have will resent you if you don't. This is not an easy journey but you guys are ahead already because you have each other." Elizabeth grabbed Emily and Sean's hands and looked at them with tears shining in her eyes, "The two of you will be okay. It's okay to have other children; you will love them more than life itself. I wish you two the absolute best in life."

Elizabeth stood and moved towards the door before Emily's voice stopped her. "Do you want to come to the wedding?" Elizabeth could tell that she was nervous by how much she was biting her bottom lip. "I'd love to." Elizabeth's smile matched Emily's and Sean couldn't help but think that things had worked themselves out amongst their individual families. The real question was if the Hotcher's and Prentiss's would get along with one another or be a modern version of the Hatfield's and McCoy's.

The rest of Emily and Sean's time together was spent in the bedroom. Emily's sex drive had been quite an appetite that Sean was happy to fulfill. In a matter of two days, Sean and Emily had sex on every possible surface of her condo. When Emily walked Sean to the departing gate at the airport, she had crocodile tears rolling down her face. Sean stroked her cheek and said, "I miss you already." Emily wrapped her arms around Sean's neck, "These goodbyes are getting a little old. When are we going to be together all the time?" Sean hung his head and muttered, "When I find property here and move the restaurant." Emily jumped back in shock, "What no! You worked your ass off to get the restaurant up and running. There is no guarantee that it would even be as successful in D.C." "Emily you love your job-"

"But I love you more! The job is just a job, but you are my life Sean. You worked too hard to get where you are. I have many skills, I'll make it anywhere." Sean pulled Emily back into him, "I would have to agree that you do have many skills." Emily laughed before kissing Sean on the lips. The sound of Sean's flight broke them apart. Sean kissed Emily once more on the lips, "I love you." "I love you more." "Impossible."

Emily's stomach lurched as she left the airport terminal; she ignored it as best as she could until she got to the office. Emily didn't think that she could handle the motion of the elevator, so she took the stairs. The minute she got to the 6th floor, she took off in the direction of the bathrooms. She completely emptied her stomach and spent another 5 minutes dry heaving. When she was done, she went to the sink to splash water in her face. She looked in the mirror at her red eyes and rosy cheeks and knew that she probably had a virus or something. JJ entered the bathroom with the intention of checking her makeup when she saw Emily hunched over and gripping on the sink so hard that her knuckles were white. JJ gently brushed a hand across Emily's back, "Em are you okay?" Emily grabbed a paper towel and wiped her now sweating forehead. "Yeah probably just picked up a bug." JJ pursed her lips and turned back to the mirror in front of her. "JJ what happened after I left?" "Well we did our paperwork and then went home later that night. Hotch called all of us yesterday to meet for lunch. He told us everything so now you don't have to worry about how to break the ice. You sure you're going to be okay to work this case?" "Why wouldn't I be? I told you it's just a bug."

"I'm not talking about your stomach bug? This case involves the murder of 3-year-olds." Emily's eyes widened but she shook it off. "JJ if I let every case get to me, then I'd be no good at this job. Where are we going?" JJ gave Emily a wide smile, "You should've just stayed at the airport because we're going to New York. The murders are happening in Brooklyn." Emily and JJ left the bathroom and joined the team in the conference room for the briefing.

Sean made the decision on the plane ride home to become a foster parent. He knew that Emily would leave her job without hesitation, which made him anxious but happy at the same time. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't want more kids. He wanted a daughter that looked just like Emily and another son that looked like him. Gino was the perfect mixture of their families. He had Sean's hair and Emily's smile. He had Jackson's eyes and Lindsey's dimples. He had a featherlight spray of freckles across his cheeks and nose. Sean always wondered what a daughter between the two would look like.

He was also aware of Emily's resistance to the subject of children. He realized that they didn't use protection when he was in D.C., not that they ever did. Sean realized that Emily was never afraid to have his baby but that he was always afraid that she'd come to her senses and leave him for someone better. Sean's plan was to call Emily and ask her if she was okay with taking in a foster child to see whether or not they would have any more kids. When he landed, he read the text message from Emily saying that her case was in New York and that she'd just go to the apartment instead of the hotel. Sean filled his foster parent application out online when he got back to his apartment. Emily came by later that night and plopped down on the couch next to him. "How's the case going?" Emily blew out a long breath and reached across Sean to grab at his plate of food. He smiled before giving it to her and watching her dig in. "Hungry much?" Sean asked her.

Emily looked at him with her jaws full of food and nearly choked when she rushed to swallow. "I'm starving. The case is a bad one but we may be making headway, so that's a good thing." Emily leaned back onto the couch and for the first time, she saw his laptop on the table. The screensaver was a picture of Emily and Gino mixing cake batter in the kitchen. Emily smiled before she turned her head to look at Sean. "Were you busy?"

Sean's anxiety rose a few levels before he reached out to grab the laptop. He opened it and clicked onto a link. Emily's mouth dropped open and her eyes nearly bugged out when she saw the DCS Symbol on the screen. "Is that?" "It's an application to be a foster parent. What do you think? Do you want to take in a foster?"


	8. Chapter 8

"Emily say something. Emily please say something.", Sean pleaded with Emily. Emily couldn't stop staring at Sean but managed to stammer out, "You want more kids?" "Don't you?"

Emily stood up slowly and walked across the room, "I-I- we haven't talked about this. I mean we are just starting to really heal and I don't- we didn't talk about this Sean. I don't know what I want. Why did you make this decision without me? Are we even equipped to handle a foster child?" Sean stood up and raked a hand through his hair, "Em babe, you're right we are healing. I didn't mean to make the decision without you. I feel like we are equipped because we have the love to give, the money to support,-"

"Sean we don't even live in the same city! How do you expect this to work exactly?" Sean's frustration set in, "I don't know Emily but we have got to stop hoping that one day we'll wake up and he'll be sitting there! Gino is not coming back and I know that it hurts but that's just a fact. We both miss him and want him back but it won't bring him back. We both came to a decision years ago that we wanted a lot of children-" "That was before we lost our son!"

Sean took a deep breath to reign in his brewing frustration, "Emily neither one of us can change the past but we also can't wallow." Emily looked as if she were about to scream but Sean silenced her and said, "Before you yell at me, just listen for a second. We are both loving people that have thriving careers and a good support system. You have your huge family, your abundance of friends, and your team. I have my good friends, and maybe my family. What is so wrong with us loving another child? What is so wrong with us being truly happy? Emily, baby we deserve to be happy too."

Sean stared at Emily as she let the silent tears roll down her face, "What if we fail at it? What if another child doesn't love us back? What if I fail as a mother again?" Sean pulled her into a hug and placed kisses to her forehead. "You are an amazing mother Emily and an even better person. You have the biggest heart that I've ever seen and I doubt very seriously that a child could ever hate you. Just give this a chance please?"

Emily pulled back to look into Sean's glistening eyes, "Okay" she said barely above a whisper but Sean heard it and broke out into a smile. "Okay? You'll give fostering a chance?" Emily nodded her head yes and Sean picked her up and spun her around.

 _Wrong move !_

Emily wrestled out of Sean's hold and took off in a sprint towards the bathroom. She threw up all of Sean's food that she'd devoured earlier. The vomiting was so painful that all Emily could do was lean over the toilet and let the tears sting her eyes. She faintly heard Sean's knocks on the bathroom door. She pulled herself off the floor, flushed the toilet, and went over to the sink to brush her teeth. When she was finished, Emily opened the bathroom door only to see Sean sitting on the bed with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry Em." "It's okay you didn't know. I think that I picked up a bug."

"Is that all? Just a bug?" "Yeah that and the fact that we practically inhale coffee and don't really eat healthy on cases." Emily watched Sean reach for a glass of ginger ale that he'd brought her. She took the glass and practically downed it in one gulp, which made Sean laugh. "Thirsty much?"

Sean successfully dodged Emily's attempt at swatting him and gently grabbed her wrist to encourage her to follow him. They went back into the living room, "Sit, relax, and I'll make you some more food." Emily reached up to kiss Sean on the lips. "Thank you."

While Sean was making Emily's food, she opened Sean's foster parent application and added all her information to his before hitting the submit button again. It made no sense to Emily for them to have two different applications. They hadn't concluded who would move where and when so just adding her info to his made sense for the moment. Just as Sean finished cooking for Emily, her phone rang. Sean watched in humor as Emily attempted to eat while talking about the case on the phone. She let out a sigh of defeat and Sean knew that she had to go. He packed up what she had left in a to-go container before she even got off the phone. "Sean" "I know. It's okay and be safe please."

"I will. I love you." "I love you too." Sean watched Emily leave and made his way back into the living room. He saw that she'd added her information to his application and couldn't help but smile.

"I'm sorry Prentiss. I didn't mean to interrupt your time with Sean." "Hotch it's fine. This is the job we chose right?" Hotch nodded and started to follow Emily before she stopped and turned to face him. "By the way, don't feel the need to walk on eggshells with me. Nothing has changed. My relationship has been there in the entire time that you've known me so don't start tiptoeing around me now." Hotch watched Emily in amazement as she read him the Riot act with a smile.

The team had closed in on their suspect right outside of the city. He was holed up in a condemned building. The problem was that they had no idea where he was exactly and how many children he had with him. There were at least 6 different doors so Hotch told everyone to split up and take a door. Emily took a door that led to a basement. ' _Of course I get this door'_ she thought to herself. Emily checked every hallway until she came upon a blocked hallway with rusty pipes. "Guys I have a deserted hallway down here and I need some help clearing it." Emily was met only with static. "Great just great." She grumbled out to no one in particular. Emily heard a small whimper and thought that she was hearing things. She broke one of the pipes and heard it again. "FBI" Emily called out into the darkness.

She heard the pitter patter of small feet and saw a pair of teary, green eyes looking back at her. "Hey it's okay. I'm the police. I'm the good guy. What's your name, mine is Emily." There was silence until Emily heard a scream and then another person grunting. "Help me", the little voice cried out.

Emily knew that she shouldn't break protocol by going into an unsecure area but she couldn't let that child get hurt. She rammed her shoulder into the pipe barricade until she felt it give way and when it broke free, she ran towards the fading cries of a small child. The rest of her team had met back up, each carrying children of different ages. Officers helped them get the others that were chained up inside the large building. JJ was the first to look around for Emily. "Where's Emily?" Morgan spoke up next, "The last I heard her, she was saying something about rusty pipes but she was fading in and out."

No one got a chance to speak because the heard Emily in the earpieces. She was fading in and out but they were able to make out, "Basement, small child, Unsub, and backup" before she faded out and they heard a gunshot.

The entire team took off in the direction of where they thought Emily was. Morgan and JJ were the fastest and got past the rusted pipe barricade before anyone else.

JJ stopped dead in her tracks, "Oh my God."


	9. Chapter 9

JJ saw the dried blood smears all over the walls of the musty hall. Her and Morgan were still in front of the rest of the team, so they took cautious but fast steps through the dark, dingy corridor. The heavy smell of decomposition was the only air that they all could breathe. Each member of the team tried not to throw up as the smell seemed to overpower them. JJ was first to hear the scuffing of feet. She saw a little girl balled up in the corner crying. JJ went to reach for her but she started screaming. JJ backed away and that's when Rossi and Reid heard noise coming from a room further down.

 _Boom_

They all heard the sound of someone's body hitting the wall hard. Rossi kicked the door in and saw Emily with her knee pressed into the back of their Unsub. She had a few visible scratches but looked to be fine otherwise. "What in the hell took you guys so long?" Each member of the team let out the breath they were holding and Morgan dragged the Unsub out the building.

"Where is she?", Emily asked looking around frantically. Reid tried to calm her down, "JJ is sitting with her but she won't let anyone near her." Rossi placed a gentle hand on Emily's back as they all went back the way they came. Emily felt a tightness around her legs and looked down to see that the girl had wrapped herself around them. Emily ignored the pain in her shoulder and reached down to pick her up.

Just looking at her, Emily could tell that she was severely malnourished and hadn't had a bath in a while. Emily carried her all the way to the ambulance but when she tried to set her down, she refused and burrowed into Emily even more. "I'll ride back to the hospital with her." Hotch nodded, "Get checked out while you're there Prentiss and that's an order." Emily bit her tongue and gave the fakest smile that she could muster. Hotch saw right through it and laughed at her antics.

At the emergency room, Emily tried her absolute best to get the little girl to speak. "I think it's only fair that you tell me your name after I already told you mine." Nothing. "You know that your eyes remind me of my daddy's eyes. Do you have your daddy's eyes?" The little girl croaked and then started to cry. "Hey, hey it's okay. How about this? Are you hungry? I'm really hungry but I will share my food with you. Is that okay?" The little girl nodded but watched Emily's every move as she left the room. She immediately jumped down from the hospital bed and got under it. When Emily came back into the room, she nearly flew into a full panic until she looked down and saw the shadow of a tiny body. Emily knelt down and gingerly lifted the hospital blanket, "Hey silly, what are you doing all the way down here?" Emily watched as she crawled out and crawled back onto the hospital bed. She looked at the food in Emily's hands funny, which made Emily chuckle a little. "This is an enchilada. Have you ever had one?" The little girl shook her head no. "Well my fiancé made this one for me. He's a chef. Do you know what a chef is?" She nodded her head yes. She opened the container and cut the food into smaller bites for the little girl.

After her first bite, Emily watched her nearly inhaled the entire meal. She looked on with tears in her eyes before she said, "Slow down honey so that you don't choke. When was the last time you ate?" The little girl stopped eating for a moment only to mutter "4 sunrise ago." Now Emily was pissed because she hadn't had a meal in four days and she didn't even want to think about when she last had a bath. Emily got up but made sure to leave the bathroom door opened as she set the shower on a warm temperature. Emily found soap and a towel and was about to call out to the little girl when she felt a presence behind her. She turned around in her kneeling position and came face to face with a pair of large green eyes. "I didn't save you any. I'm sorry." Emily lifted her bent head gently and cupped her cheeks. "It's okay sweetheart. I'll get something else okay." She nodded slightly.

"I'm not going to hurt you I promise, but I just want to clean you up a little. Is that okay?". She thought for a moment before shaking her head yes. Emily slowly took her dingy clothes off and put them in an evidence bag. She helped her steady her tiny body in the shower. She gently washed her body and had to force herself to not cry after seeing the outline of every bone in her small body. She turned her around to wash her back and the dam broke when she saw some healed and some fresh lash marks on her back and arms. "I'm just going to grab the shampoo okay?" After receiving an approving nod, Emily turned around to grab the shampoo and wipe away her tears. "Okay so I want you to sit down and lean your head back so that no bubbles get in your eyes." Emily was halfway through the third wash of the long black hair when she heard. "19"; "What was that sweetie?" "That's my name, 19"

Emily stopped what she was doing and swallowed the sob that threatened to escape. Once she trusted her voice she said, "You are not a number sweetie. You are much more than that." "Can I have a new name?" Emily smiled through tears, "Yes sweetie you can have a new name."

A knock on the door interrupted them. The little girl jumped out of her skin and threw her wet body on Emily. Emily grabbed one of the large towels and wrapped her up before sitting her on the counter. She grabbed a smaller towel and wrapped it around her head. "Look at that! my very own marshmallow." Emily heart swelled at the giggled she heard. "Can you wait for me right here?" She eagerly nodded yes and hugged Emily's neck tightly after she felt a kiss to her forehead.

"Em DCS is here for her. Her father was the Unsub and her mother was killed in a prison riot a year ago. She doesn't have any other family, so the State has to take her." "JJ No!" Emily blurted out shocking the blonde. "JJ she is just starting to talk to me. She is covered in scars and welts and hasn't ate in four days. She is afraid of any little sound. That bastard gave her a number as a name. There is no way that I'm letting her spend time in a group home until she maybe gets a good placement somewhere."

"Em what do you want-" "I'm a foster parent." JJ's eyebrows rose in confusion so Emily continued. "Sean and I submitted an application to DCS literally less than 24 hours ago." "Em you're not going to get approved." "Watch me." Emily walked back into the hospital room and smiled when her little marshmallow reached out for her with a big smile. She picked her up and grabbed her phone. The phone rang three times before the other end picked up. "Emily" "Hey Liz, I need a favor." She told Elizabeth everything and by the time she finished all Elizabeth said was "What are you going to name her?"

Emily thought back to the time her and Sean fought over names when she was pregnant with Gino. Sean said that their son would be named Gino and Emily said that their first daughter would be named Leona after Elizabeth. Emily whispered the name into her ear and laughed when she screeched in excitement. "Liz her name is Leona." Elizabeth held back a sob as she recognized her middle name. "I'll get everything handled. Just give me 24 hours." "You hear that Leona, grandma's got juice." Emily heard the shocked gasp. "Liz- Mom she's your granddaughter." Elizabeth told Emily that she would start the process and get back to her. Emily dialed yet another number, "Baby" Emily's smiled at Sean's voice, which was thick with sleep. "Sean can you come to Liberty Hospital." "Are you okay?" Sean asked, now completely awake. _Nice bonehead choice of words Em._ "Yeah I'm fine, could you just come?" She heard shuffling on the other end and Sean say that he'd be there in 20 before she hung up. Emily looked down to see that Leona was completely asleep. She laid her down gently on the bed and dressed her in pajamas that JJ had picked up after they got to the hospital. Emily stepped outside the room when Sean texted her asking where she was.

"Emily. God I was so worried! What happened to your face?" Emily failed to notice the scrape on her jawline because her focus was elsewhere. "I just have some scrapes and scratches but that's not why I called you down here." She took a deep breath before telling Sean everything from the moment she left the apartment to the present. At first, Emily couldn't read Sean's face until he pulled her into tight hug and lifted her off the ground. She saw the tears swimming in his eyes, "Is she really coming home with us?" Emily smirked at him, "If my mother has her way then she'll be home with us before sunrise." Sean knew instantly that she was talking about Elizabeth. "Emily are you doing this to make me happy?" Emily shook her head and tried to hold her tears back. "I'm doing this because I couldn't let her go to a group home after everything she's already been through." "How old is she? What's her name?"

"I have no idea how old she is but I decided that her name would be Leona. The bastard that had her gave her a number as a name." Sean's anger matched Emily's when they thought about what kind of monster would do that to a child. "So we do have a Leona?" Sean asked with a smirk. "Yes we do Mr. Hotchner. I already told her about you so follow me Top Chef." When they reached the door, Sean felt his knees buckle. He turned Emily around, "What is she freaks out when she sees me? What if I trigger something?" Emily heart broke when she realized that Sean actually thought that he could hurt Leona.

"You look nothing like the animal that had her. I've already showed her pictures of you from my phone. It's going to be okay Sean. I promise." Sean walked with Emily on shaky legs when they entered the room. She was sound asleep wrapped in Emily's standard issue FBI windbreaker and two hospital blankets. She was balled up in the fetal position and her long black hair was fanned out on the pillow behind her. She started to stir and Sean's anxiety went through the roof. Emily put a soothing hand on his shoulder when they sat down in the chair next to the bed. Leona lazily opened her eyes and looked over to see Emily and Sean looking at her. She was slightly uncomfortable but after seeing the smile on Emily's face, she smiled back. She looked at Sean who looked as scared as she was before looking back to Emily. "Leona this is Sean, my fiancé. Sean this is Leona." Sean let out a shaky, loud breath when Leona grabbed one of his fingers.

Her small voice seemed to echo through the room when she talked to Sean. "I'm not scared of you. Can you make more enchiladas?" Emily's laughter broke the silence of the room. "Yes I think I can do that."


	10. Chapter 10

Emily had just found the cooking channel on the T.V. in Leona's room when her phone rang. Emily walked to the corner of the room and answered her phone. "Hey mom." Elizabeth smiled brightly, "I'll never get tired of hearing that. Anyways I just called to tell you that you and Sean are officially Leona's foster parents." Emily couldn't hide the excitement in her voice, "How did you do that?" "A few friends in high places owed me favors." Emily was practically jumping up and down "Thank you so much! You have no idea how happy I am." "Don't think you're getting off that easy. I will be spoiling my granddaughter rotten." "I'm not surprised. Thank you really." "It was nothing." "It meant the world to me." "Emily you mean the world to me. I love you and we'll talk soon." When Emily got off the phone, she was faced with the curious looks of Sean and Leona. "Guess who's coming home with us?" Leona shrieked and jumped into Emily's awaiting arms. Both she and Emily were crying before they even realized that they were wrapped in a hug from Sean. Just then Sean's phone rang and when he turned back around, Emily had a pouting Leona on her hip. Sean kissed the top of her head and then kissed Emily's pouting lips before saying that he had to go. Before he left the room, he said, "Emily go get checked out please. Just humor me. I'll be back in enough time to watch Iron Chef with my two best girls."

Sean bypassed his brother in the hallway on his way out. "Congratulations Sean. You guys ready for a little girl?" Sean smiled, "I think we are. By the way Emily hasn't gotten checked out yet." Sean smiled to himself as he walked out the hospital knowing that Aaron would make sure Emily got every test known to man.

"Ms. Prentiss your test is inconclusive. We'd like to keep you until we get the results." "No I'm not staying. You have my contact information so just call me when you get the results." She didn't give the sputtering nurse a chance to try and change her mind before she signed the AMA form and discharged both her and Leona. Emily knew, through Hotch, that the team was debriefing and would be heading back soon. Hotch told her to take all the time she needed before coming back to work. When Emily got back to the apartment, it was around 8 at night. When she opened the door, she smelled enchiladas cooking. She saw Sean in the kitchen smiling and gave him a confused and curious look. She put Leona down and she went to hug Sean's legs. Sean picked her up and grabbed Emily's hand and took them both down the hallway. Emily let out a sob when she saw the closed door with pink and purple letters spelling out Leona. Sean put her on the ground, "This is your room Leona."

Leona tentatively grabbed the door knob and turned it slowly. She started to cry when she pushed the door all the way open. She had a canopy bed with yellow and white bedding. Her dresser was in the shape of a stove. All her furniture resembled some element of a kitchen. Sean turned to see Emily with tears streaming down her face and a wide grin. "So when you said you had to go, you came and did all this?" Sean smiled and said, "I had a little help but yes." She pulled him into the tightest hug and kissed him senseless. They looked back to Leona who was looking up at them crying happy tears. They both kneeled down to her level, "Thank you." was all Leona said before she wrapped her small arms around Sean's neck. "I have a movie that I think you'll like." Leona raised her head at Sean's words. He stood and pulled Emily flush against him and whispered in her hair, "You can take a long shower and relax a little. We'll eat and by the time you finish, we'll all watch the movie." Emily nodded in agreement and kissed them both before going to shower.

Sean waited until Emily disappeared before he whispered, "Ready to eat all the enchiladas up from mommy?" Leona laughed out loud and she grabbed Sean's hand before following him into the kitchen. 30 minutes later, Emily emerged from the bathroom and her stomach rumbled loudly, letting her know that she hadn't ate in quite some time. She stopped walking when she rounded the corner and saw Sean pretending to be Remy from Ratatouille while Leona laughed loudly. She couldn't believe that she ever doubted this. She walked into the kitchen and Sean blushed when he realized how ridiculous he looked with a mouse nose on. "Mommy you gotta eat so we can watch the movie." Emily thought her heart stopped when Leona called her mommy. She brushed it off and grabbed the plate that Sean was extending to her. As they settled on the couch, Sean whispered in her ear, "She meant to call you mommy. Don't second guess it." Emily kissed him before digging into her food. She should've known that they'd be watching Ratatouille. Leona was completely mesmerized by a cooking rat. Her eyes never left the screen and her excited squeals made both Sean and Emily laugh. Once the movie was over Emily picked up a sleeping Leona and tucked her in while Sean cleaned up the kitchen.

Emily made sure to keep her door open and a nightlight on. She then settled into her own bed, ignoring the fact that she was hungry again. Sean came into the room with a plate of fruit. Emily's eyes lit up and she sat up in bed. "I'm assuming that I'm sharing my fruit with the bottomless pit?" Emily threw a pillow at Sean and it hit him in the head, making her laugh. Sean left their bedroom door opened and climbed into bed with Emily. After eating the fruit, more Emily than Sean, Sean spooned Emily and ran his hands back and forth through her hair. After about five minutes, Emily was sound asleep in Sean's arms.

The next morning Sean woke to find Leona in bed between him and Emily. He quietly slipped out of bed and saw that Leona had practically wrapped herself around a still sleeping Emily. He went into the kitchen to start breakfast when he saw that Emily had a voicemail. Before he could take her phone to her, Emily and Leona both sleepily walked into the kitchen. After her nightmare, Sean was surprised that she actually went back to sleep for the rest of the night. Her screams in the middle of the night made Sean want to beat her pathetic excuse of a father to a bloody pulp. Emily looked extremely tired but Sean mentioned nothing about it. He simply handed her the phone and watched her check the voicemails. The first one she sped through but the second had her gasp in shock. Sean was on high alert and went to her immediately. "Emily what's wrong? Is it something with DCS?"

"No my mother finally got her hands on everything and is going to bring it over here in a few hours." "So what's wrong?" "That was the hospital and my tests came back." Sean was getting really anxious, "What did they say Em?"

"I'm pregnant."


	11. Chapter 11

"Daddy Sean. Daddy Sean." Leona called out from her bedroom. Emily rolled over on her side only to realize that Sean was already gone. She lifted up the note that he left on his pillow.

 _Went to the restaurant early. My two best girls and my little squish deserve the world. I'll be home around 9. Save movie time from me._

 _-Love you always Sean._

Emily smiled to herself before sitting up in bed. She swallowed down the sudden wave of nausea before she swung her legs out of the bed and into her fuzzy slippers. She pushed herself up and walked out her bedroom and into Leona's. Emily stopped in the doorway and smiled as Leona poked her head out from under the covers. "Mommy!" Emily pushed herself off the doorframe and walked over to her little girl. "Hey my marshmallow." Emily said before she kissed her nose and then her cheek. When Leona looked up at Emily, she felt herself melt into those big, green pools the exact same way that she did with Sean's eyes.

Emily could see the hurt in those eyes but she could also see the wonder. Emily never wanted Leona's eyes to fill with sad tears ever again. She wanted to hear that innocent laughter for the rest of her days. "Mommy can you teach me how to make my bed?" Leona asked shyly. "Of course sweetheart." Emily got on her knees and pulled Leona into the cocoon of her arms. She placed Leona's hands on top of hers and showed her step by step how to make her bed. When they finished, Emily got up, "Ready to brush your teeth?" Leona nodded eagerly. Emily went to get her toothbrush and went into Leona's bathroom with her. She looked in the mirror at Leona mimicking her every move, which made her smile. Emily helped her wash her face and then she got ready to pull out an outfit for the day. "Mommy?" "Hmm?", Emily asked from the closet still with her back turned. "My back is really itchy." Emily turned around and lifted Leona's shirt and took deep breaths to keep the tears at bay. She saw the scabbing of some of the older welts and oozing out of the fresher ones. She went to get the first aid kit and sat down on the floor with Leona across her lap. Emily could tell that she was nervous because she was shaking slightly so she decided to tell her a story. "Guess what Lee?" Leona smiled at her nickname before giddily saying, "What?"

"Mommy has a lot of brothers and sisters. Mommy had three brothers but now she only has one." "What happened to the other ones?" "Well they were firemen. They fought big fires to keep people safe. One day the fire was too big for them to stop and they tried so hard. They tried with all their might to get everyone out." "Did they?" "Yes they got everyone out but they got stuck and then they got hurt." "Did somebody save them?" "They tried. They really tried but they couldn't. But do you know why mommy's not sad anymore?" "Why?" "Because mommy's big brothers are in heaven and they are smiling down on all of us. Mommy's also not sad because she has Daddy Sean and her very own little marshmallow." Leona laughed when Emily tickled her. "What about your sisters?" "Mommy has seven sisters." "Wow! Are you the big sister?" Emily laughed a little, "No mommy is actually the baby of everybody. Mommy is the youngest." "Cool." Emily pulled Leona's shirt down. "All done."

She laughed when Leona sat up with her eyes wide and a smile on her face. "Really? I didn't feel anything." Emily smiled before grabbing her hand. "Come on Lee. Let's get dressed so that we can get breakfast." "Mommy is Daddy Sean coming?" "No sweetie Daddy Sean is working at the restaurant right now. We'll try to stop by and see him okay?" she nodded before letting Emily help her into her outfit.

"Mommy are we wearing the same thing?" Emily thought for a second and then smiled before saying, "I guess we can make that work." Emily went into her and Sean's closet while Leona sat on the bed and played with the Ratatouille teddy bear that Sean got her. Emily came out about ten minutes later dressed in a yellow sundress and white wedges that matched Leona yellow sundress and white sandals. Emily went into the bathroom to do her makeup and put her hair in a high curly ponytail. She felt a tug at her dress and looked down to see Leona, "Can my hair look like yours mommy?" "Of course."

Emily picked her up and sat her on the sink while she put her hair into the same high ponytail. She had to curl Leona long straight hair, so she plugged up the curling iron. Once it was ready she curled Leona's ponytail while she told Emily an animated story about how she was going to be just as good as Chef Remy. When they were done, Emily grabbed her purse, phone, and keys before she grabbed Leona's hand.

They got to the lobby and the doorman gave the pair a wide smile. "Look at mommy and mini-me." Leona gave the doorman, Joe, a wide smile before looking up at Emily and squeezing her hand tighter. Emily and Leona explored several flower shops in Manhattan. Leona got another fascination with flowers and fell in love with tulips at first sight. They also got breakfast at the 53rd Street Diner. Emily ordered the breakfast feast to satisfy her and the baby's hunger while Leona got smiley face pancakes with the works. Emily glanced at a baby store but kept walking. After spending a couple hours in the park, Leona and Emily were hungry again, so they went to a hotdog stand. While Leona was finishing her second hotdog, Emily got a call from Elizabeth. She ended the call and looked down to Leona who was fighting against an oncoming nap. Emily giggled as she watched Leona fight to keep her eyes open while she swayed from side to side. She picked up her sleepy princess and went in the direction of 5th avenue where Elizabeth was waiting for her.

When she arrived Elizabeth automatically reached for Leona and she happily passed her over so that her arms could have a break. She was surprised when she saw all her sisters huddled around Elizabeth's car. She walked over, "Guys-" ; Payson spoke up. "Before you say anything, Sean called us and talked to us for a while and we decided to hear Liz out. I don't know how all of this will go over with Mom but we're strongly considering letting her back into our lives. By the way have you told mom and dad about your little mini-me?" Emily gave an expression somewhere between a snarl and an eyeroll.

"No I haven't because a lot has happened recently and I'm just trying to take on one thing at a time. I still have no idea when we will actually be getting married, I'm doing everything in my power to adopt Leona because I cannot lose that little girl, and things are somewhat normal between Aaron and I. I just don't feel the need to expose Leona to all the madness between our feuding families right away. The only reason why she isn't freaking out right now is because she's asleep."

"Sly have you told her about Gino yet?" "No Sean and I haven't discussed how we plan on telling her but I did tell her about Frankie and Freddie."

"Okay. Have you decided where you're going to live and what you'll be doing workwise?" Emily chewed on her bottom lip furiously. "No haven't talked about that either. Hotch told me to take as much time as I need but I honestly don't know what I want to do. Leona will have to be put in school soon and I don't know if Sean actually plans on leaving the restaurant and moving to D.C." "What do you want?" "To never go a second without seeing that beautiful face of hers. To always have her in my arms and protected. That's what I want Payson. That's one of the few things that I want."

Payson nodded her head and move closer to Emily to say, "Have you told her about the baby you're carrying?" Emily's eyes widened and she couldn't form a sentence.


	12. Chapter 12

"How did you know that I was pregnant?" Emily asked quietly. Payson responded with a laugh, "Come on Sly. Your hips are wider and you have that glow. Trust me I know the glow. I've had 5 kids." Emily looked away and saw that Leona was waking up in Elizabeth's arms. She knew what was about to happen and swiftly walked over just as Leona woke up. Leona looked around and panicked when she didn't see her mother. She screamed, startling Elizabeth and her daughters, and started to cry loudly.

"Mommy! I want my mommy!" Emily grabbed her and rocked her gently in her arms. "Shh shh it's okay baby. Mommy's right here. I'm right here baby." Emily held Leona as close to her as possible and looked up at the shocked expressions on their faces. "I'm sorry guys but she is very shy and scares easily." They each nodded in understanding, Elizabeth step forward and rubbed gentle circles on Leona's arm. "Hey butterfly. Can grandma pick you up?" Leona removed her head from Emily's neck to look at Elizabeth. She looked back and forth between Elizabeth and Emily before shaking her head yes and reaching out to her grandmother. Elizabeth grabbed Leona with both hands before wiping her tears away and whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. "Girls are you ready to shop?" Elizabeth asked with excitement in her voice. Emily groaned as her sisters dragged her into the toy store on 5th Avenue. "Please don't buy her the entire store."

Emily's oldest sister Scarlett said, "I've really missed Liz." Emily smiled gently but knew that couldn't relate as much as her other siblings because she only had 5 months with Elizabeth before she left. Scarlet, for example, had 14 years with her. As the Prentiss women shopped, Elizabeth pulled Emily to the side. "I'll give you the file that has everything about butterfly in it when we leave, but for now I'll give you the cliff notes."

"There is no record of a birth certificate at all. Technically, she doesn't have a birthday. I estimate that she's maybe three or four but we won't know until she goes to the doctor." Elizabeth let out a shaky breath before continuing. "It was suspected that she was raped. Based on the copies of her tests that I got from the hospital, she has been tortured her entire life. She's also been matched facially in numerous child pornography pictures. I'm sure you've seen the brand behind her ear; that brand meant that she belonged to Coventry. Coventry is one of the worst child pornography rings in the world. Realistically, Leona does not exist legally. I can make sure that she gets a birth certificate and other necessary papers but I would need for you and Sean to give me a date of birth. There's no rush but I just wanted to tell you everything upfront." Emily stood there taking in all the information before she said, "Thank you. Thank you for everything mom." "Of course."

Leona started to loosen up more around Emily's sisters. Emily was starting to find out that Leona was quite a character when she had an impromptu cheer performance near the dressing room. Emily felt like Leona had been cheated out of a childhood enough, so she made up in her mind that she'd more than likely leave the BAU and take a safer job so that she could come home every day to that sweet face. _'Yeah Em, that's definitely going to be any easy conversation to have with the team.'_ She thought to herself. The rest of Emily's thoughts were cut short when Leona came running into her arms at full speed. "What's wrong sweetheart?" Leona looked up at her with big eyes, "Nothing. I just missed you mommy." "I always miss you, marshmallow." Leona beamed up at Emily, "Can we Daddy Sean now?"

Emily pretended to think hard before giving in and dramatically saying, "Oh all right. We can go see Daddy Sean." "Yay!"

The pair was unaware that they were being watched by Elizabeth and Emily's sisters. Emily turned around and saw numerous bags in each of the women's hands. "Guys come on. I asked you to not buy her the entire store." Elizabeth spoke up quickly, "We didn't. They still have hangers and boxes." Everyone laughed, even Leona, while Emily merely rolled her eyes. Elizabeth pushed Emily's arm slightly, "Don't worry, we'll keep some of these gifts at our own homes for visits and put the rest in your apartment. You have an extra key?" "The doorman does. I'll let him know to let you guys in. Thanks by the way; if I don't take this one to see her daddy, I'll never hear the end of it." Emily and Leona said their goodbyes as Emily grabbed Leona's file from Elizabeth.

When the mother-daughter duo got to Sean's restaurant, they were surprised to see Haley and Jack there. Haley spotted Emily with Leona on her hip and nearly exploded in excitement. Jack looked towards the door and saw Emily and Leona and took off running in their direction. Emily struggled to keep her balance as a very excited Jack ran into her legs and hug them tightly. "Hi Emmy!" "Hey Jackster!", Emily said back with just as much excitement. Emily felt Leona tense and almost unconsciously started to rub gentle circles on her back. Emily found out quickly that the motion alone calmed Leona almost instantly. She started to loosen the death grip she had on her mother's neck and look down at Jack. He was still smiling up at her, "Hi I'm Jack. I'm your cousin."

Leona looked to Emily who nodded her head yes and wiggled so that Emily would put her down. She looked Jack up and down while he gave her his most serious face before saying, "I'll never let anybody hurt you. I will protect you from all the mean kids." Leona gave Jack a wide smile before hugging him as tight as she could. Emily tried to fan the tears away that threaten to fall from her eyes. Haley and Sean had witnessed the entire thing and had matching smiles. Leona finally let go of Jack and looked at Haley. Jack whispered something in her ear and she stood motionless for a few seconds before running and giving a kneeling Haley the biggest hug that she could. Leona finally looked past Haley and Jack and gave the biggest grin and shrieked, "Daddy Sean!" Sean picked her up and threw her in the air a few times before smothering her face in kisses. She tried to fan him off but when he started tickling her, she only dissolved into uncontrollable laughter. Sean finally stopped and let Leona catch her breath; "Daddy Sean I had the bestest day ever." Emily took a seat at the table with Haley as Leona vividly told Sean about her day with Jack listening on intently. Haley smiled before offering a glass of Chardonnay to Emily. She smiled at the gesture but quickly turned it down. "No thanks. I'm okay." Recognition hit Haley immediately and she pulled Emily into a hug. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for the two of you, you deserve it." Sean took Leona with him to his office as he got ready to leave for the day. The two came back and Emily looked up to the two and noticed Sean stopping abruptly. She followed his gaze and felt her mouth go dry…

Leona got uncomfortable under a stranger's gaze and shifted in Sean's arms. She murmured, "Who is that Daddy Sean?"

"Daddy Sean?"

Emily chuckled awkwardly before standing up, "Hey daddy, Hey mom. What are you doing here?"


	13. Chapter 13

"Wedding planning. We do have an appointment with a dress designer tomorrow remember?" Diem said with a bit of an edge to her voice. Emily completely forgot about agreeing to do wedding planning. With work, Leona, and now her pregnancy, Emily practically forgot about her wedding planning. "I'm sorry. I've been really busy lately." "How so?" Diem fired back. Emily groaned internally; Diem was pissed about something because the fiery red head in her was coming out. Emily and Diem stared each other down for what seemed like minutes (only mere seconds) before Jackson broke the silence.

"Sean you have a daughter? We were unaware of that. Where is the mother?" Sean saw the fire in Emily's eyes before her father did, "Right in front of you! I'm her mother. Sean and I are her parents." Diem raised a brow, "So you adopted?" "No we're her foster parents but we will move for adoption." Diem narrowed her eyes at Emily and Sean before saying, "I'm assuming you met her on your latest case?" Emily nodded yes. "Even if you were registered as foster parents, how did you get vetted and approved so soon?" Emily was digging her nails into her palm trying to simmer down her temper. "I called Liz and she got everything worked out?" Diem's eyes went wide. "You went behind my back? You asked Elizabeth before you came to me? I am your mother!" Emily's control snapped and she lashed out at a very surprised Diem.

"She is my mother too! I'm not a child and I don't have to run every decision that I make by you. I don't know or care about why you have such a big issue with her. She's in our lives because I want her to be! She made a mistake; everybody is human so why do you want me to burn her at the stake? Nobody's perfect and when you figure out that none of us expect you to be, then maybe you'll learn how to forgive people. Honestly, I'd rather just elope than to deal with all the undue stress that you're going to bring my way. I don't want anyone planning my wedding but me. I need space away from the both of you. Just stay away from my daughter." Emily turned on her heels and grabbed Leona with tears in her eyes before walking out of the restaurant. Sean stood with his jaw clenched and sized Diem and Jackson up. "You two were the last people that I expected to have this reaction to us taking in a child. My mother, yes, and maybe even my brother but not you two. Elizabeth is the only reason that my little girl isn't terrified and in a foster home right now; she was somebody's punching bag for God knows how long. If we can't even act like family now, then what's the point in pretending to be one at our wedding. By the way, Leona isn't the only grandchild you have from me and Emily. She's pregnant."

Diem and Jackson's jaws were dropped as they watched Sean walk out the door with Jack and Haley trailing not too far behind.

"Mommy?" Leona asked as she watched Emily start her bubble bath. "Yes baby?" "Who's Gino?" Emily stopped moving and turned to face her. "Who told you about Gino?" "Ms. Payson did when I saw the monkey toy. She said that Gino would've liked that one too." Emily reached for Leona. She helped her out of her dress and sandals and into the tub. She watched Leona play with the various toys floating in the water. She took down her ponytail and watched the locks fall down around her face. "Gino would've been your big brother", Emily said in a low voice. Leona looked up at Emily with those big, innocent green eyes. "Where is he?" Emily let out a breath and ran a hand through her still neat ponytail. "Gino is in heaven." "Why did he go to heaven?" "He got really sick." "A cold?" Emily kissed the top of her head, "Yeah sweetie he had a really, bad cold. The doctors tried to make him better but they couldn't" Leona looked down at the bubbly water with sad eyes. "Am I in his room?" "No baby, we lived somewhere else. You are in your own room." "Can we see him? When the monster punished the bad kids, he said that if we wanted to see them again then we'd have to go to heaven or the backyard." Emily held back her disgust and hatred for the man and instead gave her daughter her attention. "Tell you what, we can go see him tomorrow. You, me, Daddy Sean, and one other person." "Who else is coming?"

Emily grabbed the towel and soap and started to lather Leona's body while she played aimlessly with the boats floating in the water. "Mommy has a little surprise for you." "What is it?" "How would you like to be a big sister?" The shriek Leona gave made Emily's anxiety about telling her decrease dramatically. She was trying to stand and hug Emily, but nearly fell over. Emily grabbed her hands in the midst of splashing water and laughed along with Leona. "So you're happy about being a big sister?" "Yes! Yes! Yes! This is the bestest news ever!" "It is?" Leona shook her head eagerly. "When is my baby going to be here?" "It's going to be a while because the baby has to keep growing in Mommy's tummy."

"Can it hear me?" Emily chuckled, "Not quite Lee, but you will be the first to know when it can okay?" "Okay." "Good, now let's finished getting you cleaned up first and then we'll have movie time with daddy." "Awesome! Hi Daddy Sean!" Emily turned to see a very amused Sean standing in the doorway. "Ladies, what movies are we watching?" "Remy and—um—mommy what's the movie with the Ms. Honey?" "Matilda." Leona looked back at Sean and proudly said, "Remy and Matilly." Sean and Emily laughed at her try of saying Matilda. Emily finished with bath time and sent her marshmallow into her room to get her pajamas. Sean helped Emily stand, "Hungry?" "Starving."

Emily let Sean lead her out the bathroom and into the living room. She turned around in his arms, "Sean how long were you standing in the doorway?" "Long enough to hear you tell her about Gino. You handled that a lot better than I probably would have. She's really happy to be a big sister."

Emily started picking at her nails, "Yeah she is." "What about you? Are you happy about this?"

Emily turned away from Sean and said, "I need to make an appointment with my OB/GYN." "Em that's not what I asked you. Are you happy about where we are right now?"

"I'm just taking all of this one day at a time. I don't know what I feel about anything right now.

 **A/N: I have no idea when I plan on ending this story. There will be wedding but a baby..(Maybe/ Maybe not)**


	14. Chapter 14

Emily rubbed one hand over her still flat stomach while she flipped through the photo album on the floor. She sat Indian-style and quietly looked through the copious amounts of photos she'd accumulated throughout the years. She looked at the picture of her at 6 years old. She smiled at the carefree little redhead girl sitting on her brother's shoulder. Freddie was dressed in his military uniform. He'd just graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy. Emily was so proud of her big brother and screamed to the top of her lungs when they called his name. Ashlynn was a mirror image of Emily as she sat astride Frankie's shoulder. Frankie had just graduated from the police academy in Richmond, Virginia. Emily's smile was stretched across her face; she felt a tear roll down her face before she could stop it.

She didn't hear the sound of tiny feet until there was a sleepy Leona standing in front of her. "Hey marshmallow, I thought you were taking a nap?" Leona rubbed her big green eyes before yawning. "I'm all done now." Leona looked down at all the pictures, "What's this?" Emily cleared her throat and cleared her lap so that Leona could sit down. "Mommy's just going through all her pictures. You want to do it with me?" Leona nodded yes and sat down in Emily's lap. Emily got through about four albums before she heard "Who's that?" Leona asked pointing to a picture of Elizabeth at a formal gala. She looked stunning; Emily cut the picture out of the paper the second she saw it. Elizabeth had on a white and black gown and was posing with a plague of some sort. "That's grandma." "The mean grandma from Daddy Sean restaurant?" Emily tugged her lip between her teeth. "Lee I want you to listen to me. She wasn't trying to be mean. Mommy and Daddy Sean made a mistake and didn't tell grandma Diem and Grandpa about you. But guess what? You are really lucky." Leona's curious eyes bored into Emily's "How?"

"Well Lee, you have three grandmas and one grandpa. You have grandma Liz, grandma Diem, and Daddy Sean's mom, grandma Lindsey." "Why do I only have one grandpa?" Emily adjusted their position on the floor, "Well your grandpa on daddy's side died. Grandma Liz hasn't found love again and grandma Diem is married to my daddy." Leona had a curious look on her face. Her chubby cheeks were puffed out slowly as she thought. Emily started to wonder how her unborn baby would act. _Is it going to be more like Gino or Leona?_ Leona turned in her mother's lap, "Can I see pictures of Gino?, she asked timidly.

Emily smiled a reached for the last album that they hadn't been through. They went through all 75 photos before Leona stopped Emily's hand on the last page. Her tiny fingers ran slowly across the picture of Emily, Sean, and Gino. The family of three were in the hospital with birthday hats on. Even though he was sick, Gino was still smiling brightly at the camera. Leona turned and leaned into her mother. She was quiet for a few moments, "Is that when my brother went to heaven?", Leona asked in a quiet whisper. "He went to heaven a few days later." Emily felt a few of Leona's tears hit her forearms. She leaned back slightly and wrapped her arms tighter around the small body in her arms. "Would he like me?" Emily let out a watery laugh, "Oh yeah marshmallow, he would love you." "And the baby?" "And the baby."

Emily held Leona for a while before she felt the weight in her arms get heavier. She looked down and saw Leona asleep with the photo of Gino in her hand. Emily made a mental note of getting it attached to her teddy bear as well as framed on her nightstand. She got up carefully and put Leona back into her bed. Emily walked back into her bedroom and saw Sean conked out on the bed. Emily felt bad because he'd been working double shifts ever since he found out about the baby. He'd leave early and come back late. Sean would always make a point to have movie time with his best girls but never have much energy after that.

She walked over to the bed and kneeled down to take his shoes off. After she'd removed Sean's shoes and socks, she stood up and reached for his belt buckle. She undid the belt and started to unzip his pants. When she grabbed the waistband, Sean's hands met hers halfway. In a voice thick with sleep Sean said, "All you had to do was ask and I would've given you a striptease." Emily rolled her eyes and laughed, "You can't even keep your eyes open let alone be able to strip without falling down." Sean released Emily's hands and let her take his pants off. She ghosted her fingertips over the length of his body and gave him chills. He smiled but kept his eyes closed as Emily started to place kisses along the same path that her fingers were previously. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and gave it a tug. Sean helped Emily take his shirt off before he opened his eyes. Sean looked up and felt his heart burst on the inside. _She's so beautiful. She is definitely glowing._ Emily leaned down to kiss Sean on the lips. He returned the kiss and groaned as Emily started to trail kisses along his jawline. When she reached his ear, she whispered huskily, "Go to sleep Sean. We can continue this after you get some sleep."

When Emily pulled away, she saw the pout on Sean's face but ignored it and went to check on Leona. She printed a copy of the picture of Gino that Leona had and put it in a small frame. She took the frame into Leona's room and placed it in her hand and took the photo out of it. She protested lightly in her sleep, but quickly calmed down. Emily put the blanket across her and walked out quietly but kept the door opened. She peeked her head into her bedroom and saw Sean asleep once again. He was snoring softly as Emily tiptoed over and pulled the covers over his body. She kissed him sweetly on the lips and went into the kitchen. Emily decided to make Gino's favorite, seafood mac and cheese. She figured that Leona would love it; she hadn't made it for Sean since Gino died.

Emily had just put dinner in the oven when she heard Sean's computer ping. She figured that it was something either about the restaurant or wedding, so she didn't worry about it. She went into the pantry to get the ingredients for dessert and came back out to Sean's phone ringing. She grabbed it so that the sound wouldn't wake him and smiled with she saw Pete's name, Sean's business partner, across the screen. "Hey Pete it's Emily. No, he's asleep. Is there something wrong? When did he do that? Uh yeah I'll let him know. Thanks, have a good night Pete." Emily hung up the phone just as the timer went off for dinner.

Both Sean and Leona came out their rooms as Emily was plating dinner. Sean could sense the tension coming from Emily although she acted as if nothing was wrong. Sean looked over to Leona, "Lee sweetie, go wash your hands for dinner." "Okay", Leona said cheerily before she hopped into her room to wash her hands. Sean walked around the kitchen until he was face-to-face with Emily. "Is there something wrong Em?" She threw the wooden spoon down on the counter before folding her arms across her chest, "You tell me." "I'm not following."

"When where you planning on telling me that you were planning to sell your half of the restaurant to Pete and that you already practically bought property in D.C.?"


	15. Chapter 15

"Emily it's not like that?"

"But it is!"

Both Emily and Sean heard Leona's footsteps and decided to finish this conversation after she was tucked into bed. After a long and awkward dinner, Sean went back into the kitchen to see Emily furiously washing the dishes. He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she shrugged his hand away.

"Em, baby listen to me." That got her attention. Emily turned around with a furious look and her arms crossed over her chest. "I was thinking about selling my half of the restaurant but it was never a done deal. We are going to have to choose between New York and D.C. I made the choice for us. You would still have your job, Leona would be in a good school, and I'd be-"

"Bankrupt." "Emily", Sean let out in a tired sigh.

"Sean, you don't get to make these choices without me." "You were going to quit your job to satisfy my job." Emily blew out a long breath before saying, "I was going to quit my job because I need to. I can't do this job knowing that I have a little girl at home waiting for me and a child growing inside of me. My job is a job. You should know that after 6 years, I care about you and us more than any job. You always say that I'm selfless but you never look in the mirror. You're willing to walk away from everything you've worked so hard for to satisfy some need that you think I have."

"Emily"

"Sean my job is dangerous. I get shot at, knives pulled on me, walk into buildings rigged to blow, and a host of other things that you don't need to know. I'd rather work from home or do something boring because I want to see my children grow up. Sean, you proposed to me; if you go through with this, then I can't stand behind your decision. Leona and this baby both need us and they need us to be happy. You and I both know that there's no way that you would be happy in D.C." Sean reached out to Emily but she just silently walked past him and went into their bedroom. Sean stood in the middle of the kitchen and let everything that Emily said sink in. He eventually walked into their bedroom and started to undress.

In the middle of undressing Sean heard Emily's sobs over the shower and it made him feel like a complete idiot. Sean undressed completely and quietly slipped into the bathroom. Through the steam, Sean could see Emily's frame wracking lightly with sobs. He opened the large glass door of the shower and immediately stepped inside. He walked up and grabbed Emily from behind in a hug. She tensed lightly at first and then relaxed fully in his arms. Sean kissed her shoulder and then trailed his kisses up to her ear. He kissed Emily's earlobe lightly, "I'm in. I'm all in with you. I won't sell the restaurant and we'll stay here in New York." Emily turned in his arms and looked up to his large frame, which loomed over her. "You mean that?" "Every word. I love you too much to screw this up." "I love you Sean." "I love you too Emily."

Sean reached for Emily's conditioner after he noticed that she already washed her hair. He worked the lather through her scalp until he saw bubbles. Emily moaned lightly and whined when Sean took his hands out of her hair and started to massage her shoulders. He slowly and gingerly moved his ministrations to her lower back. Emily would never admit it but her back had been killing her all day. Sean's husky voice brought her out of her thoughts, "You need to eat at least twice as much as you do now so that junior here can be healthy." Sean could feel the pout on her face without even looking down. "I guess you need to fatten me up then Mr. Hotchner." Sean chuckled behind Emily's ear and reached for the soap so that he could wash her growing body.

After their joined shower, Sean towel-dried Emily's body and then rubbed lotion into her soft, supple skin. Emily only got dressed in one of Sean's shirts before slipping under the covers. He rubbed gentle circles in her back before turning her on her side, "How do you plan on telling your team that you're quitting?" "I have no idea."

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Emily woke up the next morning and felt something wrapped around her body. She felt Sean's breath on her neck and one of his hands on her butt while the other was wrapped around her stomach. She saw Leona wrapped around her front. Her long hair was wrapped around the forearm that Emily had resting on the pillow. Emily realized for the first time that Leona had really long eyelashes just like she did. Emily also noticed that Leona's body was starting to fill out, thanks to her better nutrition. Emily just watched the steady rise and fall of her chest. Sean stirred slightly behind her and wrapped his arm tighter around her. He pecked at her neck and Emily smiled slightly, "Mhm good morning. When did our visitor join us?"

"A little past 3 this morning. I woke up because I was cold and then I heard someone following me."

Emily rose lightly up in bed after hearing a knock at the door. her brow furrowed, "Are you expecting someone?" Sean shook his head no. Emily sat up more in bed, which woke up Leona. Sean started to get up so he could answer the door, but Emily stopped him. "I'll go. We're probably going to have a lazy day in bed so I need food." She got up and padded out the bedroom and headed to the front door.

She unlocked it and was surprised to see who her morning guest was. "Hotch? Um what are you doing here?"

Hotch straightened is posture, "We need to talk. May I come in?"

"Um sure I guess."


	16. Chapter 16

"Hotch what exactly is it that you want?" "Just five minutes to talk and then I'll be out your hair I promise."

Emily reluctantly nodded her head in agreement before sitting down on the couch as Hotch sat across from her. "Did I interrupt?" "Yes and no. We just woke up." "I'm sorry." "It's okay. So, you wanted to talk?"

Hotch cleared his throat before he started to speak. "Prentiss, you are a valuable member of this team. Your skills can't compare to anyone else that I know. You are able to take down a suspect just as well as you can comfort a victim. We need you on this team. I know I said take all the time that you need but-"

"Hotch." Emily interrupted. He held up his hand to stop her and continued talking.

"I would like to offer you a consultant position. Technically, you would no longer be an agent but the BAU could bring you in whenever we truly need you. This could extend to include your linguist skills amongst other things. The Bureau would be willing to offer you early retirement so that you don't have to go through the resignation process. Although it's a consultant position, to maximize the number of hours you work, I can let you take some of the paperwork off of me." Hotch stopped talking and looked over at Emily, whose mouth was opened slightly and her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

Emily cleared her throat and caught the stray tear that fell from her eye. "You're willing to do all that for me?" "Like I said Prentiss, you are a vital part of this team and we need you. I also understand that your life revolves around your family now. I had a feeling that you would be leaving anyways, so I just thought that I would at least offer you the option of somewhat staying with the team. You put your family first, which is something I admire and wished that I did."

"Hotch, Jack loves you and he understand why you do your job. You were right about my family being my priority. I love this job, but I love Sean and Leona more. I was leaving because of them but also because I'm pregnant. I couldn't do this job knowing that I may not be able to come home to them. I greatly appreciate the offer and I accept. Thank you for everything Hotch."

"It's the least I could do considering everything that I've put you through recently. Um, again sorry to interrupt your morning; I'll get out of your hair." Hotch stood and walked towards the front door. He turned around one last time, "I'll let the team know the good news. About the job offer, not the pregnancy. You can tell them yourself whenever you want." Emily reached out and gave Hotch a rare hug before showing him out.

On her way back to the bedroom, she grabbed pretzels, juice for Leona, lemonade for her and Sean, and a big bag of Trailmix. She walked back into the room and saw Leona talking animatedly to Sean about bunny rabbits. She put all the food on the bed, except for the pretzels, and put Finding Nemo into the DVD player. Emily poured Leona's juice into a childproof cup and gave it to her. "Thank you mommy." "You're welcome Lee."

Sean waited until Leona was engrossed in the movie, which didn't take long, before getting Emily's attention. "Who was at the door?" Emily had a mouthful of Trailmix and was about to put pretzels in her mouth before she heard Sean's question. She finished chewing the Trailmix and answered, "Your brother."

Sean's eyebrows rose and Emily turned and chuckled at little at his expression. "He offered me early retirement and the option to be with the BAU on a consultant basis and I accepted." "That's great I think. What exactly does that mean?", Sean asked while reaching over to grab some pretzels. "It means that unless they truly need me, I won't get called in on a case. Early retirement means that if I ever wanted to go back full-time, then I wouldn't have that many hoops to jump through and I'd still get my pension." "Aaron did all that for you?"

"I know it's hard to believe but yeah he did. I told him that I was pregnant and he said that he'd let me tell the team in my own time." Sean kissed the back of Emily's hand and they both turned back around to finish the movie with Leona. After watching Finding Nemo, Osmosis Jones, and The Lion King, Emily got up to fix an actual meal for the four of them.

She started chopping up various vegetables and put a large pot on the stove to boil water. She heard a ping from the desktop in the living room. She wiped her hands on a nearby towel and headed over that way. She opened her email and saw that she had 119 unread emails. The majority of them were congratulatory emails from her extended family and friends, the others were from the team, and one was from Grandview Prep, the school Emily looked into for Leona to attend. They said that Leona would have to come in for her in-person interview before they made their final decision.

One of the last two was from Elizabeth, who enquired about her and Sean's decided date for Leona's birthday. The last was a lengthy email from her father. She sat down to read it completely and felt bad for him. He was apologizing constantly for his behavior at the restaurant. He said that he hoped he could reconcile with Emily and Sean. He begged her to give him a chance to be a grandfather to her kids. He even said that he and Diem would back off with the wedding planning and let her decide whatever she wanted to do. By the end of the email, Emily called her father's office and let him a voicemail. She also made a phone call to confirm her appointment with her OB/GYN that upcoming Thursday.

She went back into the kitchen to finish cooking. At some point, Sean entered the kitchen and just watched Emily from afar. To him, she looked as graceful cooking as she did when she would ice skate or perform ballet. He listened to her humming and knew that she was off in another world. He walked up behind her quiet and wrapped his arms around her stomach. "What's cooking good looking?" Emily smiled and tilted her head to give Sean more room to kiss her neck. "Soup. By the way, we need to pick a date for Leona's birth certificate."

Sean kissed Emily's neck lightly once more and started to nibble at her pulse point. "Mhmm, I was thinking maybe the day she came home with us. So how about August 13?" Emily smiled and nodded her head yes. "I think that's a perfect date. I have a question." "Okay…"

"Was I a little too hard on my parents?" Sean straightened up behind Emily and held her a little tighter. "I think you were doing what any parent would do. I think that you were protecting our little girl from any backlash that she may have gotten from your parents. I also think that the issue was more between both of your mothers than us. Diem seemed jealous of the fact that you let Elizabeth back into your life. Your dad may have felt that he was caught in the middle of everything. You handled it better than I would have. You weren't wrong, you were just a mama bear protecting our cubs. Whatever you decide with your parents, I support you 100%."

 **A/N: I am nowhere near finished with this story. Prompts and any ideas are welcomed. Tell me what you guys like/don't like, what you want to see more of, and even ideas about the baby or wedding.**


	17. Chapter 17

Leona's eyes went wide as she saw the needle on the table. She turned with tear-filled eyes and said, "Mommy I'm scared."

Emily opened her arms just as Leona flung herself into them and buried her head in Emily's neck. Emily looked up at the pediatrician, who gave her a sympathetic smile, and rubbed gentle circles on Leona's back. "Lee it's okay sweetheart. You have to get your shots before you go to school. Every other kid gets them too baby." Through tears Leona murmured, "But it'll hurt. Mommy you and daddy promised that you would never let anyone hurt me and she's going to hurt me."

Leona's words hit Emily hard and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Her phone started to ring and she was relieved when she saw Sean's face on the screen. "Hello." "Hey Em. Are you okay? Are you crying? Did something happen to Leona?"

Emily smiled slightly, "Sean, baby slow down. I can't answer all your questions at once. Long story short: we're still at the doctor and Lee is scared half to death about getting her shots." "I have an idea but I'll have to call you right back."

Emily looked at her phone in surprise and then saw that Sean was FaceTiming her. She answered and watched Leona's face light up at the sound of Sean's voice. "Hey pumpkin pie what's up?" "Daddy I'm scared." "I know buttercup but guess what."

"What?" "You have mommy holding you and I'm right here." Emily could see that Sean was in his office but that he was wearing his chef's jacket. It warmed her from the inside out that Sean took time out of his day to make sure that she and Leona were okay. Emily spoke up and looked at Leona's pediatrician before saying, "You can give me one first just to show Lee that it's okay."

The doctor shook her head and gave a small smile after Emily mouthed the words _I'm pregnant_

Leona turned to watch her doctor give her mother a shot. The doctor covered the syringe and only stuck Emily with the needle. Leona's eyes were glued to the small needle prick on Emily's arm. The doctor placed the still-full syringe on the small table and placed a band-aid over Emily's needle prick. Leona looked at Emily and then at Sean on the phone and smiled brightly. "I think I'm ready."

Leona rolled her sleeve up but stopped suddenly and asked both her parents, "Mommy, daddy what's your favorite recipe?" As both Emily and Sean explained their favorite recipes, Leona's doctor gave her all 6 of her mandated shots. She smiled warmly and said "We're all done."

Leona looked down to the colorful and bright band-aids on her arms and gave her doctor a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you Dr. Torres!" "You're welcome Leona."

Emily got Leona's attention, "Here marshmallow, talk to daddy for a little bit." Emily waited patiently for Leona's paperwork and tapped her finger against the desk as she listened to Leona and Sean's enthusiastic conversation. She felt a tap to her shoulder and turned to see Dr. Torres. "You are already a great mother. You and the little one will be just fine. Dr. Ross is a friend and she'll take great care of you two."

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Emily tapped her foot continuously as she waited for her name to be called. Leona was still talking to Sean on the phone and looked over curiously at her mother. "Is mommy okay?" "Uh, she's biting her nails and her leg is moving really fast." "Pass mommy the phone please." "Okay daddy."

"Em…Em…..Emily!"

Emily shook out of her trance at the sound of Sean's voice. "Hey. I thought you were talking to Lee." "Baby you're going to be fine. Do you want me to come to you?" "No. You should be working right now."

"Emily, you and squish will be fine. They are just checking you out and maybe giving you a due date." Sean saw Emily's eyes fill with tears and she whispered shakily, "What if something happens? What if I lose the baby? Sean what if I can't do this?"

Before Sean could respond, Emily's name was called. "Mommy, can I talk to daddy again?" "Sure baby. Here you go."

"Daddy what do I do?" "Hold mommy's hand and tell her your favorite story. I've got to get back to work. I love you Lee." "I love you too daddy. Bye."

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"Emily, there is your baby. I know it only looks like a speck, but that's your little one. You are about 5 weeks along and perfectly healthy. It's a little too early to hear the heartbeat. I estimate your due date as around May 26 of next year. I'll get you started on some prenatal vitamins."

Dr. Ross saw the scared look on Emily's face and saw the shaking of her hands. "Emily you are okay. You and your baby are completely fine." She looked at her OBGYN and gave a small smile. "We're okay."

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"Girls! Em, Lee where are you guys?" Sean asked as he trudged through the apartment and shucked out of his chef's jacket. He threw the jacket in the laundry room before taking off his shoes and putting them in the laundry room. He smelled dinner in the oven but still couldn't find his girls. He walked into the living room and saw Leona asleep on the floor on top of her crayons. He smiled as he took a peak at the picture and saw that it was of earlier in the day. He walked quietly into the master bedroom and saw Emily sitting in the middle of the bed staring at a picture. He walked over and climbed on the bed behind her and saw that she was staring at her ultrasound. "Is that squish?"

Emily physically jumped a little in Sean's arms and he chuckled. "When did you get here?" "A little while ago. I'm sorry I couldn't be at the doctor with my girls today." Emily leaned back in Sean's arms and turned and kissed his neck. "It's okay baby. It was just a doctor's appointment." "But it was important." "Watching me pee in a cup and then getting cold jelly squeezed on my stomach is not what I'd call a high priority." Sean chuckled, "I beg to differ. Anyways what's for dinner?"

"Food." "Ha ha thanks smartass." "There's-"

Emily stopped talking at the sound of her phone ringing. "Hello. Slow down, I can barely understand you. What? Where? When? How? I'm on my way now. Just stay there, I'm coming right now!"

Sean's curiosity morphed into high anxiety as Emily's voice increased and was laced with worry. "Emily what's going on?"

"Jack's in the hospital."


	18. Chapter 18

Emily rushed through the hospital with Sean and a still sleeping Leona. She saw Haley in the ER waiting room and practically ran over to her. Haley was nervously rambling but Emily managed to understand that Jack was having an appendectomy.

"What happened Haley?"

"Jack said that his stomach was really hurting but I just thought that it was because of too much junk food. I should've..I should've listened to him from the beginning."

Emily grabbed Haley's hands and rubbed her knuckles in a soothing motion. "I would've thought the same exact thing if Leona told me that. As mothers, we aren't supposed to have that superpower no matter how badly we want it. "

Haley listened intently while Emily reached up to wipe Haley's tears. Haley was so thankful to have Emily and Sean so close considering what just happened with Jack. Haley sniffled somewhat loudly and took a deep breath before chuckling lightly.

"So, distract me. How was your doctor's appointment?" Emily laughed before settling back into the chair. "It was fine. I got my first ultrasound and I'm due actually a few days before Jack's birthday." Emily saw the sadness in Haley's eyes and grabbed her hand. "He'll be okay. Appendectomies are routine procedures." "I know", Haley whispered. She looked over at Leona who was asleep in Sean's arms as he attempted to not dose off.

"He still working a lot of hours?" "Yeah. He wants to expand the restaurant so that they can bring in more business. If he has it his way, I'll be his little housewife." Emily said with a sarcastic chuckle.

"Ya know, they could always open one in Brooklyn or Queens. The moms at Jack's school would love it."

"How's he doing going to school in Queens?" "He hates it. I'm considering moving to Manhattan. Jack's martial arts class and music class are both here not to mention that his cousin is too. Wait, you guys are staying right?"

"Yeah we're staying. I'm basically retired from the Bureau but it's okay because I have the family money to support us whenever we need it. I still work with the team but mostly paperwork unless it's truly necessary. I think Lee would love to have Jack so close. Her and this one" she said rubbing her flat stomach "aren't exactly that close in age. I think she would need to be around someone close to her age, that she trusts, to help with the transition."

"I think it'd be nice for all of us. You and I are pretty close. Jack is completely infatuated with Leona and Sean is family."

Before Haley could say anything else, a doctor came into the waiting room to update them on Jack.

"How's my son?" Haley asked anxiously. "The procedure went smoothly. There were no complications and Jack is doing great. He'll sleep for a little bit but he should be fine to go home in a couple of days."

Emily, Haley, and Sean blew out a collective breath and Leona took that moment to wake up and make her presence known. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned out loud. "Hi aunt Haley." "Hi sweet girl."

"Where's Jack?" Leona asked innocently. Haley reached for Leona and she happily gave in. "Jack had a really bad tummy ache and the doctors made him feel all better." "Can I see him?"

The doctor led them all down the hall to Jack's room. Leona's eyes lit up when she saw Jack laying on the bed holding a book. She wiggled out of Haley's arms and crawled up Jack's hospital bed. She sat on her knees and looked at him until he turned his head to look at her.

"Hey Jack Jack. Is your tummy okay?" Jack turned his body slightly and nodded his head yes. "Yeah I'm okay. What happened to your arms?"

Leona looked down at her arms and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "The doctor wanted to have fun." Jack laughed, which made Leona laugh. He scooted over on the bed and Leona plopped down next to her cousin. The adults in the room were stunned silent in the mere fact that Jack had just come out of surgery and Leona instantly lit his world up.

Haley tapped Emily and Sean on the shoulder and motioned for them to go out into the hallway with her while Jack and Leona talked enthusiastically about the cartoon on the small hospital television. "So, did you hear what Emily and I were talking about or were you resting your eyes?" Haley asked barely able to contain her snicker.

Emily wasn't as skilled and started to laugh at Haley's question. "I'll have you know that-", Sean started.

"Babe just admit defeat. You were definitely asleep." Emily said with a laugh.

"What were you guys talking about?" Sean asked with a dramatic sigh.

"I was saying that Jack and I were possibly moving to Manhattan." "What's wrong with Queens? I thought you liked it." "I do like it but Jack hates it and now that you guys are definitely staying, Queens is a bit far especially when Jack has activities in Manhattan." "You sure you just don't miss seeing this face?" Sean asked teasingly.

Haley laughed and saddled up to Emily. "Of course I miss seeing your smoking hot fiancé everyday. Not to mention, your completely adorable little girl." "Okay okay I get it."

"Where will you work?" Emily piped up.

"At an art gallery in SoHo. It's actually not that far from Grandview Prep and I was thinking of transferring Jack there for the upcoming school year. What do you guys think?"

Sean's mouth was hanging open and Emily gently closed it while smiling. "We think that it's an amazing idea. You'll have a booming career and family close by to support you."

Haley smiled wide at both of them. "I really love you guys."

"It's kinda hard not to." Sean joked. The trio started to walk back towards the room before Emily stopped in her tracks. "I forgot to turn the oven off." Sean kissed her temple and said, "I turned it off."

Sean walked ahead of the two women and Haley took the opportunity to ask, "Have you told the team about you not coming back?" "Have you told Hotch about Jack?"

Emily laughed before saying, "We both have some explaining to do."


	19. Chapter 19

**A week later**

It had been about three days since Jack was released from the hospital. Haley tried to reach Hotch on more than one occasion but never reached him. She figured she'd just tell him in person about Jack's hospital visit and at least let the father and son see one another. She needed back up so she asked Emily to come with her.

"Em." "Hmm?"

"Don't start something you can't finish."

"Trust me I can finish it" Emily said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. She reached her hand inside of Sean's sweats and boxers and grinned to herself. "Someone is definitely ready for me."

Sean moaned involuntarily, "Baby as much as I love this-" "Shh. Let me take care of you baby. You've been taking care of us, so you deserve it." Emily kissed Sean to stop his next sentence from tumbling out. She kissed her way down his body and dropped to her knees. In a matter of minutes, Emily had Sean's legs shaking and she pulled herself up to a standing position and pushed him back on the bed. She smiled down at his slightly flushed face, "You ready for the grand finale baby?"

XXXXXXxxxxxxXXXXXx

"Daddy, I'm going to miss you." "I'll miss you more buttercup." Leona gave her father the biggest hug she could before releasing him and grabbing her bear even tighter. Sean stood up and wrapped his arms around Emily. He saw the downcast look in her eyes, although she tried to hide it. "It's only a few days. Besides, you have to transition from being a member of your old team to being a secretary."

Emily gasped and punched Sean in the shoulder, "I'm not a secretary." Sean laughed and teased her further by saying, "Sorry. You'll be an assistant right?" Emily punched him again but he caught her arm mid-air and kissed her. Emily pulled away and mumbled against his lips, "Keep that up and you won't get a repeat of last night for a very long time." "Sure you can hold out that long Em? I mean you are the one who's libido is on another level."

Emily poked her lips out and started to pout. Sean kissed her temple and chuckled lightly, "I'm sorry babe. You and I both know that this process needs to be done sooner rather than later." "I know. Honestly if Haley wouldn't have asked me to go, then I'd probably still be putting it off." "She asked you to go because of the Jack thing right?" "Yeah. She said that she couldn't reach him at all."

Sean lifted a brow, "Does she know he's dating again?"

Emily mimicked Sean's expression, "Does he know _she's_ dating again?" Emily laughed at Sean's impression of a fish. "Close your mouth sweetie. We'll see you in a few days."

Emily grabbed Leona's hand, "Say bye to daddy Lee." "Bye daddy." "Bye sweetheart." "Love you lots daddy." "Love you most sweetheart."

XXXXxxxxxxXXXXx

"Why do you look like your about to pass out?" Emily asked Haley with a worried look on her face. Haley blew out a breath, "I just really don't want to deal with volcano Aaron." "Don't worry about that, I got your back." The two women rested their heads against their seats and looked at their sleeping children holding hands.

After a while, Emily looked over and saw that Haley was still staring at the kids. She nudged her shoulder, "You want another one don't you." "I really do." "So, what's stopping you? Please don't say Hotch." "It's not that. I just don't know if 'you know who' wants kids."

"Has he interacted with Jack?" "Yeah, he's great with Jack." "So, what's the problem?" "Isn't it moving too fast?" "Yes and no. Yes, in terms of how long you two have been dating but no in terms of how bad you want another child. You don't have to have a baby by 'you know who'. There are options; fostering, adoption, sperm bank, and I'm sure some other stuff too. I say if you want it, go for it and don't let anyone stop you."

"When did you get all nostalgic?" "When Lee came into my life. I'm telling you Haley, kids change things." "Yeah that's what I thought with Aaron." Emily shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe it was more of the man than the child."

When they landed, Haley and Emily stopped by a diner so that all four of them could eat. Jack and Leona both wanted cheeseburgers and fries. Haley ordered a panini and soup. Emily ordered a small rack of ribs and a steak. When the food got to the table, Emily looked around before blurting out, "Why do I feel like the fattest person at the table?"

Haley laughed before taking a bite of her panini, "You're eating for two. Besides, you've always had a killer appetite and you workout like a fiend to keep your figure." Leona and Jack were attempting to solve the puzzles on their menus while eating their food. That sight alone proved to be quite humorous to the two moms. They finished their lunch and headed towards the Bureau. They got their visitor's badges and went up to the 6th floor. As soon as they got off the elevator, Emily heard Garcia screech before she started running, as fast as her heels would let her, in her direction. Leona immediately jumped behind Emily's legs to hide. Emily was wrapped in a bone-crushing hug that left her breathless. Garcia gave Haley a somewhat similar hug and then reached down to do the same with Jack.

After seeing the look on Leona's face, Garcia didn't even try to touch her. "Sorry Pen. It's not you." Emily kneeled down and whispered in Leona's ear. " _She's not going to hurt you. She's really nice….and colorful but nice."_ Leona shook her head and reached out to hug Garcia's legs. "Awww she's so precious." "The team is still here right?" Emily asked. "Yep, no cases." The five of them entered the bullpen and walked into the round table room. Rossi saw Emily first and got up to wrap her in a hug. "Cara how have you been?" "I've been pretty good."

"Princess, come here." Morgan said before enveloping Emily in a warm embrace. "Hey Morgan."

Emily said her hellos to the rest of the team and it was after that that everyone noticed Haley and Jack. She spoke to everyone and turned to Hotch, "Can I talk to you in your office?" He nodded and followed her to his office. Emily talked about general things while Haley and Hotch talked. After a while they came back and that's when Emily decided to just tell everyone. Reid was the first to ask, "Emily when are you coming back?"

Emily nervously bit her lip and said lowly, "I'm not." She looked up to see the hurt expressions and Garcia nearly in tears. Haley took Leona and Jack out of the roundtable room and into the Hotch's office.

"Guys I cannot do this job knowing that Leona is at home waiting for me. I think that we can all agree that I get hurt more than anyone, which is what helped me make this decision. I have a little girl now that needs all the love that Sean and I can give her. I do love you guys, all of you, but I love them more. I don't know if I'll ever come back full-time but that option is still out there for me. I won't be gone completely; I'll be handling the paperwork for you guys. I was offered that option so that I felt like I was still a part of the team. I am on a consultant basis, so I can come back to help on a case if I'm truly needed. This is not the end but just me taking a break from the job."

Emily pulled JJ and Garcia, who were both openly crying, into a hug. "I love you guys. We'll still be close, I promise." Garcia sniffled. "You're not getting off that easy sister. I will check in with you daily." Emily gave a watery laugh and nodded her head. _There's no way I can throw a pregnancy on them too. When you successfully get to your second trimester then we can revisit this topic._

Morgan and Reid were next to give her a hug. Reid held her tight and as if he never wanted to let her go. "I'll miss you." "I'll miss you too Reid." Morgan gave Emily a tight hug and patted her back gently, "You were always my favorite partner. Go raise that little princess and come back to the team, but only if you want to." "Hey I thought I was princess?" "Woman. Fine the both of you are princesses."

Rossi was last (Emily opted not to hug Hotch) and he hugged her tight and kissed both of her cheeks before holding her face in his hands, "You're a great mom already bella. You're not completely gone, so I think all of us can live with that."

 **A/N: Next chapter is Leona's first day at school and Emily's adjustment to not being on the team.**


	20. Chapter 20

"Mommy, Do I have to go?" Leona asked Emily while tugging at her school uniform. Emily stood up from her crouched down position and turned to face a pair of big green puppy dog eyes.

"Yes, baby you do have to go. You have to go to school so that you can be smart like mommy and daddy." Emily tried to ignore the pouting lip Leona was sporting but found it to be incredibly difficult.

"But I don't want to leave you. you'll be all alone without me." Emily laughed at Leona's logic and agreed with a shake of the head. "You're right marshmallow. I will be bored without you but I want you to grow up to be really smart." "Like Uncle Spencer? He knows alottttt of stuff."

Emily chuckled again, "Yes baby. I want you to be as smart as Uncle Spencer. In order for you to be that smart, you have to go to school." Emily said as she grabbed Leona and started to tickle her. Leona shrieked out in laughter and wiggled to get out her mother's arms.

"Do you remember what we talked about last night?" "Yep. I'm supposed to be nice to everyone and mind my manners. I'm also supposed to ask questions when I'm confused. Also, when we have recess, I'm supposed to have fun. Did I get it right?"

Emily smiled before saying, "You got it spot on. Now let's get some breakfast in you." "Okay mommy."

Leona was busy eating her French Toast when Sean came out the bedroom half-dressed. "You plan on getting dressed all the way or are we flashing everyone today?" Emily asked with a smirk.

"What's flashing?" Leona asked looked at both of her parents with a curious look. Emily's smile turned into her cheeks blushing while she tried to come up with someone. Sean intervened, "Flashing is something that adults do to be silly." "Can I flash?"

"NO!" both Sean and Emily said simultaneously. "Why not?" "Because you aren't an adult yet."

Emily smacked Sean on the chest lightly and quietly scolded, "Thanks for jumpstarting the hellish teenage years." Sean laughed, rolled his eyes a little, and squeezed past Emily to grab a plate of food.

He turned back to face Emily when the microwave beeped. She grabbed the plate of homemade nachos and set it on the table next to both Sean and Leona. She went to the refrigerator and came back while Sean just watched her every move. She grabbed the syrup and poured a generous amount over her plate of nachos. She then grabbed the can of whipped cream and sprayed an even coating on top of the mountain of nachos.

Leona stared at her mom with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Emily?" "Hmm?" "Did you just put syrup and whipped cream on top of nachos?"

Emily took the moment to bite into her nachos and missed the look of disgust on Sean's face and the look of terror on Leona's. "Mommy are you okay?" "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" "Because that's really gross and you can get sick." "I'll be fine, besides it's what the baby wants."

Sean let his fork clatter on his plate loudly and said, "This is not Fear Factor Em. That is downright nasty."

"Well _your_ baby wanted it." "Nope. That is definitely your kid."

"You're the one who eats pickles and peppermint together!" "That's different."

Leona pushed her chair back, "Mommy, daddy. I love you but you guys are gross."

"Did she just-", Emily asked. Sean cut her off, "Call us gross? Yep, that happened."

XXXXXxxxxxxx

"Hi Leona, I'm your teacher Ms. Pipkin. This must be your mom?" Leona barely nodded her head yes because she was so focused on everything around her. The young teacher extended her hand to Emily.

"I'm Emily Prentiss, soon to be Emily Hotchner." "Congratulations." "Thank you."

The teacher sensed the hesitation in Emily and stepped away quietly to give the mother and daughter a moment together. Emily crouched down behind Leona and rested her chin lightly on the little girl's shoulder. "Pretty great huh?" "It's amazing mommy!"

Leona turned and gave Emily the biggest hug. She murmured into her mother's neck, "I'm going to miss you mommy. Like a whole, whole lot."

Emily hugged Leona a little tighter. "I'll miss you so much my sweet baby girl. I want you to have fun and learn a lot so that you can tell me all about your day." Emily pulled away and kissed Leona on her cheek. Both mother and daughter rubbed their noses together and Leona gave Emily a kiss on the forehead before turning away and running towards the rest of her class.

Emily stood and wiped her tears away. "Trust me the first day is always worst on the parents than the kids. Is she your first?" Emily nodded at the question. "Hi, my name is Jordana Cramer. The very hyper one with the pigtails and purple shoes is my little Valerie."

"Emily Pr-Hotchner. That's my Leona." The blonde mom with the pixie haircut looked at Emily's hand. "Just married or not married yet?" Emily laughed.

"Not married yet. Is it that obvious?" "A little, but that's only because I've been married for 9 years. Valerie is my oldest daughter but we have 5 total. You?" "We only have Leona right now but I'm almost positive that we'll have a huge family at some point."

"Don't you have to get to work?"

Emily shook her head no. "Gave up my job for her." "You're already a damn good mom to me. I did the same. I used to be firefighter but they became my sole reason for leaving the job." "I can definitely relate. I worked for the FBI. I was a profiler. Leona is worth leaving the job ten times over."

Emily furrowed her brows before asking, "What the hell do stay-at-home moms do?" Jordana laughed loudly before saying, "Probably book club and baking. You rock climb?" "There's a first time for everything." "I like you Emily. The rest of these moms are all pansies."


	21. Chapter 21

_Umph w_ as the sound that Emily made as Leona ran full speed into her arms. Emily brushed back Leona's long wavy hair with her hand. She laughed silently while trying to picture what exactly Leona did at school to make her long braid come down and unravel. "Hi Lee. How was your first day of school? Tell me all about it." "It was so fun mommy! We played the name game and then we played musical chairs. Ms. Pipkin is the best teacher ever mommy. Guess what?"

Emily smiled wide and chuckled at Leona's giddiness, "What?" "I have a BFF. That means Best Friend Forever. Her name is Valerie and she likes Chef Remy just like me. She has brothers and a sister and her mom is a firefighter. Her daddy is a chef just like daddy. We played at recess together. We were on the monkey bars and the swings and even the seesaw! School was so much fun."

Emily looked down at Leona as the two gingerly walked down the street. Emily was so happy that Leona was adjusting so well. After a few moments of silence Leona spoke up again, "How was your day mommy? Did you miss me?" "I always miss you Lee. My day was pretty good too. Although I missed you and daddy soooo much, I managed to make a new friend too." Leona's wide smile matched her eyes in that moment. "Is she your BFF?" "We'll see. Let's go home and get dinner ready for daddy."

"Okay." Leona started to swing her and Emily's intertwined hands and hummed lightly. "Did the baby miss me?" "Of course, the baby missed you." "Can it hear me now?"

Emily chuckled, "Not quite yet but I tell you what, you can still talk to mommy's tummy." Leona's eyes lit up and she beamed brightly before standing on her toes to kiss Emily's stomach. "Mommy can we call grandma?" Emily pulled out her phone and dialed Elizabeth's number. "Hi sweetheart." "Hey mom. Someone wants to tell you about her first day of school." "Put my butterfly on the phone." Emily shook her head smiling before handing the phone to a bouncing Leona. The rest of the walk was Emily's stomach growling and Leona's loud giggles with her grandmother. As they got to the apartment building, Emily's brow furrowed as she heard Leona addressing someone else.

"Hi Uncle Spencer! No, mommy said that she missed me a whole, whole lot but that she made a BFF just like I did. School was so much fun. I knew all my sight words. My teacher said that she was surprised that I could read already. Mommy's right here, hold on." Emily grabbed the phone as they both walked through the lobby of their building. "Hey Reid." "You have a new BFF?" he asked with a slight laugh to his voice.

" _Mommy can I push the button?"_ "Yes, baby you can. A spent the day with one of the moms from Leona's school. She's really funny and laidback." "So, you did make a new friend. What did you guys do?" "We went rock climbing."

Another voice came on the line. "Seriously Princess. You couldn't just go run some errands like a normal stay-at-home mom?" Morgan asked laughing. "Why would you think that I'd be a normal stay-at-home mom? Besides I still work." "Yeah as a secretary for us." JJ said smoothly before bursting out laughing.

"You know that if I wasn't in an elevator with a child then I'd give each and every one of you a piece of my mind. Where's Hotch?" "I'm here Prentiss. Did you get the package I sent you?" "Yeah I grabbed it from reception." "Those are the files from our last two cases. Everyone's case reports are in there. I would just like for you to go over with a fine-tooth comb." "Yeah no problem. Lee, sweetie turn the key the other way."

 _I opened it mommy!_ "I see that sweetheart. I can have it back to you by tomorrow afternoon is that fine Hotch?" "That's perfect. Enjoy your evening." Emily hung up the phone and placed the package in her bedroom before coming back into the kitchen to start dinner. She gave Leona a snack of oranges and grapes before letting her work on one of the many puzzle books that Reid sent her. Emily's phone started ringing and she sighed when she saw her dad's name. "Hey daddy." "Sly, please don't hang up. I just want to talk to you." "About what exactly?" she barked out.

"I'm sorry for the way I reacted to the news of you taking in a foster child. I was wrong and I was out of line. I was afraid that you'd get attached and things might not go your way. I also felt like the middle man because I was the one that asked Diem and Liz to have a sit-down. I just felt like I opened Pandora's box. I am happy that you and Liz spoke and seem to have a steady relationship. I am truly sorry for the way I acted. I want to congratulate you and Sean on the pregnancy as well as your little girl. I do hope that you will let me back into your life but if not, I'll understand eventually. Sly are you still there?"

Emily blew out a breath and turned her back to the living room where Leona was. "I don't hate you dad. I love you so much and I accept your apology. This family needs to solve their issues individually before we all come together. I'm not ready right this second for you and Mom to come around my daughter. You guys made her uncomfortable and I need to ease her into meeting the both of you formally. I have to go daddy." "I love you Emilia." "I love you too daddy."

Just as Emily was plating dinner, Sean walked into the house. Emily noticed the frustrated and tired expression on his face and walked over to him. "Rough day?" "Nothing I can't handle. How were my girls today?" "Well-"

"Daddy! I had the best day ever." Sean gave Emily an apologetic smile as Leona told him about her day. Emily finished fixing everyone's plates and put them on the table. As Leona was talking to Sean, Emily helped him out of his chef's jacket and threw it in the washing machine. She came back and sat down at the table. Sean nudged her hand, "So I heard that you made a new BFF." Emily rolled her eyes and laughed. "I spent the day with one of the moms from Lee's school. We are kind of in the same situation. We both gave up our jobs for our kids. She's a retired firefighter and she has five kids with her chef husband. I think she said that he's really big into cake decorating on the side but is a full-time pastry chef." Sean's eyebrows rose and he gave a small smile. "What's her name." "Jordana Cramer."

Sean choked a little on his water, "Cramer? As in Alan Cramer? Her husband is Alan Cramer?" "Uh yeah I think that's what she said his name was. Why? Who is Alan Cramer?" Sean laughed out loud and held up a finger as he caught his breath. "Alan Cramer is my pastry chef. So, you're telling me that we all know a member of the Cramer family?" It was Emily's turn to laugh, "This is a really small world."


	22. Chapter 22

"So, you going to tell me what's wrong with you?" Emily asked as she sat on the bed watching Sean undress slowly. He let out a sigh before muttering, "I'm just tired babe. I'm just gonna relax in a bath." Sean quickly kissed Emily on the lips before retreating to the bathroom. Emily tapped her foot repeatedly against the wooden floor as she waited for Sean to finish his bath. Because the bathroom was so quiet, Sean could hear Emily's foot tapping the floor. Sean had patience for a lot of things, but 45 minutes of Emily's foot tapping drove him crazy.

"If you're that impatient then just join me", Sean said through the closed bathroom door. He smiled to himself when he heard the tapping stop right before the door opened. Emily looked at Sean, who had his head leaned back with a towel over his face, and started to undress. She sat down in the water and immediately put her back to Sean's front. Without a single word, Emily felt Sean's arms wrap around her and pull her into him. They were silent for a while before Sean asked, "Lee's-"

"Asleep. Being hyper all day is the best remedy for getting a kid to go to sleep." Normally Sean always had a witty comeback but his silence was starting to bother Emily. She turned around and sat astride his hips. Her sudden movement caused Sean to take the towel off his face and look at her with a stunned expression. "What's wrong?" "You." "What about me? I said that I was tired Em, that's all."

"Bullshit. What is going on with you Sean? Is this about the restaurant? Is it my pregnancy?" Emily whispered out before bowing her head in a mix of sadness and shame. "What! No Emily, I love that you are pregnant." "You don't need to say that to make me feel better. What was I thinking? All of this was too soon too fast. First, we have Lee then I turn up pregnant and quit my job. Not to mention that in the span of a month we've gotten engaged and became parents all over again. I mean we're in over our-"

"Emily." Sean stopped her rushed rant and grabbed her hands. "Baby I am so grateful and so proud to have you as my future wife. I feel beyond blessed that we have Lee and I am so thankful for this pregnancy. I'm sorry if I made you doubt any of that, that wasn't my intention. What I'm feeling right now has nothing to do with the restaurant." "Then what?" Sean's response was hushed so Emily asked him to speak up. "What is it Sean? What has you so bent out of shape?"

"I've been thinking that we need a bigger place."

Emily scoffed out in annoyance, "That's your big issue? You have got to be kidding me?"

"No, I'm not. We don't have enough space for a newborn." "Sean I know that you have this male pride complex thing going on but this is kinda crazy don't you think? You are losing your marbles because we have to find a new place?" "Em to stay in this school district for Lee, I'd have to sell my shares in the company and scratch the expansion that we want to do."

"Or you could just use my money." "Emily no." "First off, I'm not a dog. Second, what's the point in me having money if it's not going to be used?" "That's your family money."

"Let me stop you right there. My money is what I worked my ass off making and saving ever since I got my first job as a teenager. My family money is a completely separate account that I've never touched in my life. I have no idea where that money is, let alone how much is in it. Sean, I've had good jobs and budgeted well. I've rarely splurged on anything and have always been frugal with my money."

"I'm the man in this relationship." "Yeah, the caveman. A bank account doesn't dictate who wears the pants in this relationship. Sean I've always made double what you have but it was never an issue until now. Don't you think that I know that we need a new place? One of the perks of being a 'stay-at-home mom' is that I have the time to look into these things." "You've looked into it?"

Emily nodded her head before allowing Sean to pull her back into his arms. "I've narrowed it down to five places in Manhattan. One is a loft, one is a penthouse, one is a brownstone, one is a four bedroom, and one is a condo. I figured we'd look at them all even though I'm leaning more towards the brownstone." "Why the brownstone?" he asked as he gently started washing her body.

"Because if you have it your way, I'll be pregnant again at some point. If we're already in a huge brownstone, then we don't have to constantly keep moving. Moving would be a complete bitch with small kids. Oh, and the next time you go all Tarzan on me, I'm going to make you eat your balls for breakfast." Emily felt Sean wince behind her and smiled.

"When are we supposed to see these places?" "Tomorrow."

Sean kissed the base of Emily's neck and trail his kisses slowly up the column of her neck. "I'm sorry for freaking out and shutting you out earlier." "You're too sexy to injure, besides it'd be a real shame to murder my eye candy." "And here I thought you just wanted me for my cooking." "Fat chance. I know how to cook. I definitely use you for your body." "The feeling is beyond mutual", Sean said with a smile before engaging Emily in a long sensual kiss.

XXXXXXxxxxxxXXXXX

Emily pulled her blouse down a little further over her barely there baby bump. Sean kissed the top of her head, "Why are you so self-conscious these days? You look beautiful, doesn't she Lee?" Leona look down at her mother from her position on Sean's shoulders.

"Mommy always looks the best. Mommy is the most beautiful princess ever." Emily smiled to herself; Sean and Leona never phased to make her smile. The small family walked into the massive brownstone in awe. Sean put Leona down and each Hotchner separated into a different room. After about 20 minutes, the realtor got Sean's attention while he was in the kitchen. "So, I take it you like the kitchen?" the plump tall woman asked. "It's unbelievable. It's nearly a replica of my kitchen at work." The woman smiled at the excitement in his voice. "Your wife mentioned that you were a chef." "I am. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ignoring you but this kitchen is amazing."

"It's fine. This is a lot to take in all at once. Oh, and I forgot to mention that there's an elevator in case you have a disabled friend or relative or even if you get hurt yourself. The last owner had a disabled brother and got the lift put in. She loved this place and only left when she got a better job offer in Las Vegas." Emily followed the sound of the realtor's voice and wrapped her arms around Sean from behind. She kissed in between his shoulder blades before craning her body around him to look into his eyes. She saw the excitement and smiled widely at him. Leona was standing in the doorway of the kitchen playing with Emily's keys. "What's the asking price?" Sean asked the realtor.

"This place is on the market for about $1 million." Sean's eyes bugged out his head and Emily pinched him softly, then roughly. She smiled sweetly at the realtor, "We'll take it."

Emily and Sean signed a stack of paperwork and had a set of keys dropped in their hands before their realtor left. "Emily $1 million! Baby how-"

"I told you that I invested well and saved well. Besides this is a steal. A 6-bedroom brownstone in the center of Manhattan for a million dollars is unheard of. The kids could grow up in this house and we could leave it to them in our will."

"I still think it was way too much but what's done is done. Will? You plan on dying soon?" "Not a chance but we should still have a living will. You can never be too sure these days."

"You ready to start moving our stuff?" "I am not Wreck-It-Ralph. You can have fun playing Tetris while Lee and I decorate." "Okay Martha Stewart."

 **A/N: Next chapter: Sean and Emily's parents officially meet Leona and the team comes for a visit.**


	23. Chapter 23

"You okay?"

"Huh?" Emily said shaking out of her daze. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Was that supposed to convince me?" Jordana asked with a slight smile. "How far along are you?"

Emily eyes widened as her mouth hung open. "How did you-"

"First, every time we talk about our girls, you have this this faraway look in your eyes. Second, I've never seen you drink coffee. You were a cop, so I know that caffeine runs through your veins. Third, we've been out to dinner and lunch and you haven't touch a drop of alcohol. Finally, you keep doing that 'mom' motion. We've all done it and every time you see another child you put your hand on your stomach."

Emily laughed before saying, "You sure you were never a profiler?" "No I wasn't but I do notice behavior. Is this why you've been so paranoid about your clothes?" Emily looked at Jordana in surprise. "What! You're always pulling your shirt down over your non-existent stomach. So, first or second trimester?"

"First." Emily mumbled before hanging her head down. "You know I went through post-partem before and after I gave birth." "How-"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Leona isn't yours biologically. Look Emily don't take this the wrong way but we've known each other for about a month now; I noticed that from the moment I saw her. I know that she's not yours by DNA because I've been there." Jordana muttered the last part but Emily still heard her. She could tell that Emily wouldn't press her to talk, but she felt Emily's eyes boring into her. She sighed before looking up at Emily.

"You know that Alan and I have 5 kids, right?" Emily nodded her head and Jordana continued. "Well, my oldest son Cason was actually a victim that I saved in a fire. My middle son, Kevin, was a foster child that we took in and later adopted. My youngest daughter, Cassie, was a trick baby. She was the daughter of two junkies that left her in an alley. It was a miracle that she survived and Valerie always wanted a little sister."

"I honestly wouldn't have known any of that by looking at you guys." "Most people don't. I only noticed Leona because I was the same way with Cason, Kevin, and Cassie. Valerie and Todd are our only biological children. After I, um, had Todd we suffered an intra-uterine fetal death. I was 8 months pregnant and one day I stopped feeling my baby kick. I went to the doctor and sure enough, my little girl was dead. It was the most painful thing I've ever gone through. We named her Christina."

Emily dabbed her tears away with a napkin and reached out to grab Jordana's hand. Jordana wiped her own tears and laughed to herself a little. "You lost a child, didn't you Emily?"

Emily whispered, "Yes."

"Sean and I had a son named Gino. My pregnancy was fine as was my delivery. Gino was about to turn two when he got sick. I knew something was really wrong so we took him to the hospital. He died from pneumonia." "You feel guilty about this pregnancy, don't you?" "It doesn't feel fair that I'm having another baby. I feel like I'm cheating Gino because I could possibly give birth to another son." "Have you talked to Sean about it?" "No. He's so excited and I don't want to ruin that for him." "If he knows you like I think he does, then he's already picked up on it. This pregnancy could be affecting him too. The most important thing that I learned about losing a child was that it affects everyone around you almost as much as it affects you." "Thanks."

Jordana pursred her lips and decided to move on to a cheerier topic. "So, when do you guys plan on starting the nursery?" Emily shrugged, "I have no idea. I still haven't told my old team that I'm pregnant. It just felt like too much to drop on them after I told them that I was leaving the bureau." "Not that I don't mind the company, but are you actually never going back to your old job? I mean you're younger than I am with less children, is it really a done deal?" Jordana asked hoping that she wasn't prodding too much. "I loved my job but I also saw too much loss and too many families ripped apart. On the other hand, I would've never met Leona if I didn't do my job. She's the best thing in a long time to happen to me." "I would just leave it as an open-ended option. Now that we're here, let' pick up our order." Jordana said as she held the door open for Emily.

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"What the hell was that?" Emily screamed at the top of her lungs from her seat. A loud whistle blew and the referee put a stop to the little league baseball team. Leona was leaning on her scraped knees holding her bleeding chin with tears rolling down her face. Emily jumped out of her seat the minute she saw it happen. "What the hell is wrong with your kid lady? She shoved my daughter to the ground!"

The bleach-blonde mom got up with a sway in her steps and got in Emily's face. "Well maybe your kid should learn how to toughen up." Emily lunged forward and tackled the woman to the ground. Back on the field, the little girl stood over Leona with a smug grin of satisfaction, "Only babies cry. You're just a baby." The girl's obnoxious laughter was cut short when she was suddenly propelled forward onto the ground. "Hey, that's my friend." Valerie pointed out. She looked down before helping Leona stand and saw the sticky red liquid dripping from the rock on the ground. She brushed off Leona's clothes and walked her towards their dugout. They sat on the bench and Valerie gave Leona a towel.

Jordana had her hands full trying to pry Emily off the obviously drunk mother. She finally got her off and stood in-between the two feuding women. The referee grabbed the other mother by the arm. "Ma'am have you been drinking?" "What are you kidding me? She attacked me and you have the balls to ask me a question like that!" the mother said in shock. The referee dismissed her response and crouched down to smell the cup that was knocked over during their scuffle. "Ma'am this cup smells like alcohol."

"That unstable woman attacked me." Emily started to push against Jordana's hold. "Me unstable? You're raising a violent bully." "And you're raising a coward."

This time Jordana willingly let her go and Emily attacked once again. Another mother started to lunge in Emily's direction and Jordana tackled her to the ground. The crowd's shocked attention was divided between the grown women fighting and the fight that had just broke out amongst the girls on the field. The obnoxious little girl came back for more and immediately went after Valerie. Another little girl set her sights on Leona and pounced. Leona and Valerie may have been small but they held their own pretty well. Sean, Alan, and the boys got out their car and walked towards the baseball field to watch the girls play. They were oblivious to the tell-tale signs of a battle royal and froze in their steps as they saw the mayhem in front of them. Sean couldn't believe that his fiancé and daughter were both having a brawl at a little league baseball game. Alan shook his head and laughed a little; this was definitely not the first time that Jordana had done something like this. He grabbed Sean's attention. "I'll get Jordana and you get Emily. The boys can get Leona and Valerie." Sean snapped out of it and followed Alan's instructions. Jack and Todd immediately went to grab Valerie and Leona while Cason stood and held Cassie's hand. After a few tries, Sean managed to yank Emily off the other woman as did Alan with Jordana.

"Em what the hell are you doing fighting another mom?" "She's a bitch that's why." "Emily you're pregnant." "Her kid shoved Leona to the ground. She was bleeding and this waste of a space said that I was raising my daughter to be a coward." Nevertheless, Sean pulled Emily away from the group and shook his head. He leaned in to her side and whispered in her ear, "You put your weight behind that punch, right?" "Always baby always."

The two sets of parents made their way over to their little girls. Emily immediately swept Leona up in her arms and assessed her bleeding chin. Sean noticed the bruising starting to form on Leona's knuckles. He reached over and rubbed her nose, "You definitely have mommy's right hook." Emily laughed and kissed Leona's forehead.

"Are you okay Leona?" Valerie asked from her spot in her father's arms. She had a few more scratches than Leona but bruised knuckles as well. "I'm okay Val." The referee caught up to the group before they made it to the parking lot. "Mrs. Hotchner, Mrs. Cramer do you have a minute?" Emily held her hand up to stop the man from speaking. "We're not apologizing for anything that happened today. If it's a problem, then we won't come back."

"The problem is that we are now out of a head coach and an assistant couch." "What?", Jordan asked.

"The other two moms were our coaches for the girls' team. Drinking in a school sponsored setting is prohibited therefore, they both forfeited their spot as coaches. There is a zero-tolerance policy for fighting and malicious harm; therefore, the daughters of said mothers are not allowed to play for this team anymore." "Our girls were fighting too", Emily pointed out.

"The way I see it, it was self-defense. They were protecting themselves against a threat. As far as you and Mrs. Cramer, my wife would've probably done the same thing if that happened to our son. Valerie is a great first baseman and Leona is an outstanding third baseman. We'd hate to lose them both. On behalf of the school, I'm extending the offer for the both of you to coach the Girls Little League Team if you want it." Emily's mouth hung open but Jordana spoke for the two of them. "Of course, we'll take it."

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"Oh my vision! This place is amazing. I feel like Annie; don't you want to adopt me?"

Emily laughed before patting her friend on the shoulder, "I would if I could PG. I'm happy that you guys could make it." _Just tell them Emily._ "We wouldn't miss the opportunity to come visit you. With the guys here you didn't even have to get a moving company."

"Lucky you." JJ grumbled. Emily looked at her in confusion before Garcia tapped her on the shoulder. "She's grumpy because her hormones are out of whack. You'd think that after 8 weeks of this, she'd calmed down by now. Jayge you're not even half way through baking Junior." Emily's eyes widened. _JJ's pregnant. Oh great, you can't tell them now._ She plastered on a fake smile, "Congratulations JJ. I'm so happy for you." "Thanks Em."

Just then, the men came back into the living room. "Hey princess this place is awesome but you have sooo much space. Planning on moving your entire family in here?" Morgan asked with a smile on his face. Emily's eyes darted over to Sean who looked back at her with a neutral face. Rossi immediately picked up on the awkwardness in the air. "Okay what's up?"

Emily haphazardly ran a hand through her hair and laughed nervously. "JJ isn't the only one adding to the BAU family." Everyone was so silent that you could hear a pin drop until Penelope screamed at the top of her lungs. "Both my babies are having babies. I'm so excited and can't wait to thrust you two into Penelope's Magical Land of Pregnancy Prowess!"


	24. Chapter 24

"Wait a minute. You're pregnant and didn't say anything? What the fuck Emily?" Everyone's jaws dropped at JJ's biting tone towards Emily. Emily looked as if she wanted to crawl into herself. _I knew I should've told them earlier._ "Now JJ-" Morgan tried to interject. "No!" JJ said sharply. Morgan kept his mouth shut along with everyone else. "Did you plan on telling us at all Emily? It seems like the only reason that you did was because Penelope told you that I was pregnant and Rossi called you out. What were you going to do, have a kid and not say anything until we accidently saw it again?" Emily's frustration had completely boiled over at this point and she exploded on JJ.

"I didn't say anything because I'm not obligated to tell anyone anything about my body. I didn't say anything because I could still lose this pregnancy. I didn't tell you guys because none of you know what it's like to do everything right while you're pregnant and still have to watch your son die. I didn't tell you guys because I am scared shitless 24/7 every day that I am pregnant. I didn't tell you guys because there are days when I'm completely fine and then there are days where I feel like I'm in over my head with everything and everyone. I didn't say anything because I can handle me, Sean, and Leona if I were to lose this baby. What I can't handle is 6 more broken hearts dragging along with what I'd already have to deal with." Emily had dissolved into tears by the end of her speech and ran off to the master bedroom. Sean stood in front of Emily's team fuming and trying not to lose it on them. JJ and Penelope both had tears rolling down their faces. Reid looked bewildered and as if he'd cry any minute. Morgan's jaw was clenched but her had a pained expression on his face. Rossi was stone-faced and Hotch wouldn't look up to meet anyone's eyes. Emily eventually came back into the room and silently walked past everyone and went into the kitchen. Sean grabbed her attention before she disappeared from view. "I can do it babe." "No, it's okay. Lee wants stuffed ravioli and I told her that I'd make it. Jordana and Alan are staying for dinner. I don't care if they stay or not, that's your call." Sean watched as Emily turned her back and walked into the kitchen. Sean turned back to the people sitting in their living room and let out a breath. "Some of Emily and I's friends are coming over for dinner. She doesn't care if you guys stay. JJ if you want to make things right, then now is your chance." JJ got up and gingerly walked into the kitchen.

"Emily, I am so sorry." "Sorry that you said it or sorry that you meant it?" Emily asked with a snarky voice. JJ visibly winced at Emily's response. Emily blew out a long breath as she prepped the dough for the ravioli. "I'm sorry JJ. I shouldn't have snapped at you, but none of you honestly know how any of this feels. You don't know what it feels like to fail as a mother. You don't know what it feels like to have your joy ripped away. You don't know what it feels like to be consumed with guilt over the fact that you're pregnant with another child after already losing one." JJ moved closer to Emily and placed one hand on top of hers. "You're right Em, I don't know what any of that feels like but that doesn't mean that I don't still care about your feelings. You've been like a sister to me after losing my own sister so many years ago. My friendship with you has helped me heal and accept my sister's death. I think that this baby you're carrying will help you heal and bring you joy." Emily's lifted her eyes to meet JJ's and she saw the sincerity in her eyes. "Can you believe that we're pregnant at the same time?" Both women laughed and Emily went back to making dinner. Penelope poked her head into the kitchen, "All clear?" Emily and JJ turned around, "All clear." "Now get in here so you can help" Emily said with a smile. Sean heard the women's laughter from the living room and smiled to himself. He sat amongst the men as they all watched a baseball game on TV. The doorbell rang and Sean got up to answer it. The walk across the massive brownstone was something that Sean would have to get used to. He made it to the door and opened it to reveal the hyper duo of Leona and Valerie. "Hi Mr. Sean." "Hello Valerie. Hello Lee."

"Hi daddy" Leona said somewhat distant because she was peeking around Sean's legs to see who was in the house. "Mommy's old work friends are here. Don't worry pumpkin, you've seen them before." Leona shook her head and grabbed Valerie's hand as they went further into the house. "Ice cream?" Sean asked as he raised a brow at Jordana and Alan. Alan held his hands up in mock surrender, "It was her idea." Jordana rolled her eyes, "Where's Em?" "Kitchen. Let me introduce you guys first." The three adults walked back into the living room as they admired the house. As they stopped in front of couch, the men of the BAU all stood up. "Guys this is Alan and Jordana Cramer. Alan and Jordana this is David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, and my brother Aaron Hotchner."

Introductions were made but Reid's eyebrow rose as he heard a thump in the direction of the stairs. Sean cleared his throat loudly and all the kids poked their head around the corner. After a look from Sean and Alan, they all slinked into the living room. "You guys know Leona. These are Jordana and Alan's kids. We have Todd, Cason, Valerie, Cassie, and Kevin." The kids all waved at the adults. Sean saw out the corner of his eye how antsy the kids were. They could barely stand still. He suppressed a laugh before turning back to them, "Now you can go play." The boys all took off in search of toys and the girls took off in the direction if the kitchen. "Boy if I could bottle up all that energy." Rossi said which made everyone laugh in agreement. Leona, Valerie, and Cassie got to the threshold of the kitchen and stopped abruptly. Leona knocked on the frame and said loudly, "Mommy! Permission to enter?" Emily turned around with a smile. "Permission granted" she said as she heard small feet tap across the floor. She looked at Garcia and JJ who were puzzled. "We taught Leona to ask permission if one of us is in the kitchen cooking so that she wouldn't get hurt. The last thing we want is a ball of energy zooming through the kitchen and get hurt." The women nodded in understanding. "Mommy can we go play in my room?" Leona asked with big eyes and she tugged on Emily's leg. Emily chuckled, "After you say hello." Leona let go of her mother, "Hi Ms. Jen. Hi Ms. Penny." "Hello sweetie" both women cooed and Emily playfully rolled her eyes. Emily looked at Leona, who was now silently begging permission. "You can go play in your room now." A collective squeal was what the three women heard before the girls ran off. "They're like a double shot of espresso."

The three women turned around and Emily smiled at the sight of Jordana standing in the doorway. She walked over to the kitchen island and extended her hand to JJ and Garcia. "Hi, I'm Jordana Cramer. You must be JJ and Penelope? Emily talks about you guys." The women smiled and Garcia extended a glass of wine towards Jordana with a raised brow. "She's trying to figure out if you're pregnant too" Emily said flatly. Garcia's pouty face made Jordana laugh. "No, I'm not pregnant." Jordana said as she gratefully accepted the wine. Both Emily and JJ were sulking because they couldn't drink. The women chatted and occasionally helped out as Emily finished making dinner. Everyone sat down at the massive table as stories, jokes, and a lot of laughter was shared amongst them all. "Wait, so you had a smack down with another mom?" Morgan asked laughing. "She was wrong. I just had to make sure that she knew." Emily responded. "And you helped out?" Rossi asked looking at Jordana. "They were not going to tag team my girl" she replied as she gave Emily a high five. "It's good to know that Emily is in good hands around here" Reid spoke up suddenly. Emily grabbed his hand and gave him a genuine smile that he returned immediately. Jordana and Alan sat back and observed. They both realized in that moment that this group was truly a family. After a while, Jordana and Alan packed up their bunch and bid a goodnight to the remaining guests. Hotch regretfully took a phone call that turned out to be a case for the BAU. He walked back into the room and Emily and Sean already knew that they were being called out on a case. "Guys I'm sorry but we have a case. It's in Las Vegas. We're needed at the airstrip ASAP."

Although they started getting up, Garcia asked "What's the case?" "7 middle-aged women went missing from a day spa 48 hours ago. The Las Vegas Police have found bodies but are having a hard time with identification." Garcia swallowed hard and Morgan asked, "Beaten beyond recognition, Burned, Stabbed, Mutilated?" "All of the above. They're stuck because they've only been finding body parts." Hotch said.

He turned to look at Emily and Sean. "Emily, we may need you on this one...strictly for victimology." He corrected as Sean gave him that famous Hotchner glare. "Just let me know" Emily said with a touch of nervousness. Hotch nodded and they all moved to leave the house. Sean walked them all out and told them to be careful. He locked the house up and went upstairs to get Leona ready for bed. The exhaustion for the day finally took its toll on Emily and she sat on the couch and started to drift off to sleep. Sean managed to get Leona into bed after she practically fell asleep hanging out of the hammock in her bedroom. He walked back downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen and dining room after the large dinner they'd hosted. Finally, he made his way into the living room and picked up his slumbering wife. She stirred in his arms but didn't wake up. Sean unintentionally left Emily's phone downstairs. He stripped her and put her in one of his shirts and tucked her into bed as he went to go shower. Downstairs, Emily's phone was ringing.

 _702-347-1601_

 _Unknown Caller_

 _Las Vegas, Nevada_

 **A/N: Will try to update soon.**


	25. Chapter 25

Sean woke up at the small but loud knock on he and Emily's bedroom door. He pulled the comforter over Emily's half naked body and called out. "Lee?" The burgundy door opened just enough for Sean to see the head of Leona. "Good morning daddy." "Good morning baby girl." "Is mommy awake?" "Yes" Emily said in a muffled tone as she buried her head further in the pillow. Leona opened the door all the way and ran across the room and jumped in Emily and Sean's large bed. Leona crawled up the black comforter with gold trimmings until she was nuzzled between her two parents. She looked at Emily who had finally turned over and kissed her nose. She turned in the opposite direction and did the same to Sean. Emily ran her fingers through Leona's hair before pushing it out of her face. They all sat there in silence for a while before Leona spoke up. "The stairs are ringing." Both adults looked at their daughter in confusion. "What do you mean the stairs are ringing?" Emily asked as she pushed a memory foam pillow under her lower back. "Welll. When I first woke up, I was in my bed watching Chef Remy and then I wanted to lay in here. I left my room and I heard the stairs ringing before I knocked on the door.

It all clicked for Emily then. "Sean, did you leave your phone downstairs? None of us are down there so it's quiet enough that if your phone is ringing, then it'll echo off the stairs." "No, my phone is right here." Sean looked around the room for a minute before turning back to Emily, who had laid back down completely and rubbed her hand under her belly. "I think I left your phone downstairs." Sean's phone started to buzz and he reached over and took it off the charger before answering it. "Is that necessary? Are you sure? No, I'm not okay with it but obviously, I have to be." Emily raised a brow in confusion as she listened to Sean's conversation. "Who was that?" "Aaron. He's been calling you but your phone is downstairs. He needs you for victimology on the Las Vegas case. Do you want me to book you a flight?" Emily saw the fear in Sean's eyes. "I'll only be in the police station. I won't be anywhere near any danger. I promise. And yes, I would love for you to book me a flight while I pack." Emily turned to Leona, whose eyes were now downcast and sad. "Marshmallow, mommy really needs to help catch bad guys." "But what about my baby?" Leona asked in a sad voice that made Emily's heart ache. "I will be safe the entire time my angel. The baby and I will be fine. I'll call every chance I get." Leona shook her head and laid back against the pillows that Emily had vacated.

Emily got up and went into her closet. She grabbed her go-bag. She grabbed a few sweaters and slacks that she made sure would be comfortable. She finished packing her bag and exited the closet. Emily walked back into the room and noticed that the bed was empty. She heard some noise from downstairs and figured that breakfast was being made. She walked down the steps and made a detour to the living room to grab her phone. She walked into the kitchen and kissed the top of Leona's hand before sitting down on one of the bar stools. "Baby is really getting round now. All my tank tops are really snug now." Sean turned his body slightly as Emily talked, "We knew it'd happened. It seemed like it starting poking out last night. Feeling anything yet?" "You're just as bad as Lee. The only thing I feel is that my stomach is doing the Cupid Shuffle about four times a day" Emily said with a laugh. Emily grabbed the Tupperware container that Sean held out for her. "I booked you the earliest flight I could, which leaves in three hours." Emily got up from the bar stool and kissed Leona's head again and went across the kitchen and kissed Sean sweetly on the lips. "I'll call you guys as soon as I land. Love you!" "Love you Em" "Love you Mommy."

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Emily landed in Las Vegas and immediately checked in with Sean and Leona like she promised. Morgan was waiting for her at the airport and she smiled before leaning in to give him a big hug. "Whoa princess. Pregnancy has made you all mushy." "Shut up" Emily said as she playfully jabbed him in the shoulder. Morgan presented a cup out of nowhere. "Can't drink coffee Morgan." "According to Pretty Boy, you can if you don't go overboard. This is not coffee. Sean mentioned your obsession with Butterscotch Lattes these days. Since you'll probably go overboard with caffeine, this is Butterscotch hot chocolate." "Now who's all mushy?" They both got in the SUV as Morgan drove to the police station. "How far have you guys gotten?" "Body count has jumped from 7 to 11. There are still only body parts turning up. we got lucky with this last one; we found a foot and the woman had an ankle tattoo. Garcia is running it through the tattoo database now but unless she was in prison, it's a long shot." Emily nodded in understanding and sat back and waited for them to get to the station. Pleasantries were made and the team worked silently amongst one another in the large conference room. Emily looked at the tattoo again and then it all made sense to her.

"Guys we're looking at this wrong." They all looked at her in confusion. She grabbed her phone and put it on speaker. "My raven-haired beauty, how's the baking life treating you?" Emily laughed at Garcia before continuing. "Could you find off the beaten path tattoo parlors that have at least one high-end or well-recognized artist." Emily drummed her nails on the table as Garcia's keys clicked away. "Oh, you are spot on Superwoman. There are only two off the beaten path tattoos parlors in the Las Vegas Metro area that have a well-recognized artist. One is 3 miles from you and the other is 5 miles from the Strip." "How did you know a way for us to narrow it down?" Hotch asked in curiosity. "I got all my tattoos done in places like that. Popular tattoos shops don't always work out because they are more concerned with the money than the quality. Smaller ones take greater pride in their work." Hotch separated the team towards the two locations as Emily stayed behind in the station with Reid.

Emily took a moment to look through her phone. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she went through her call log and saw 5 missed calls from and unknown Las Vegas number. She called Garcia again, "Hey peaches what can I do for you?" "Can you trace the 5 unknown calls to my phone from Las Vegas." "Of course, Sugar Plum. The number that's been calling you is a burner cell. Untraceable my dear. I'm sorry." Emily hung the phone up and sat back down in her chair. Just as Reid was about to ask her something, her phone started buzzing. "Prentiss." "Sly, have you talked to mom lately?" "Payson? She talks to Lee everyday just about, why?" "No I'm not talking about Liz. I'm talking about mom…Diem." "No we haven't talked since that showdown at Sean's restaurant why?" "I called Sean earlier but he said you were in Vegas." "Yeah, I am. I'm helping out on a case. Why does it matter?" "Sly, mom is in Vegas. She's went to a resort and now she's not answering her phone." "When was the last time you talked to her?" "Three days ago. She said that she was taking a mini vacation to get her head together before she came to work things out with you." Emily felt her head spinning and she gripped onto the chair tighter. She looked at the crime scene photos again. "Payson? Did she bring anything special that would stand out?" "Um not really. Wait. She did take one of my bags and she started wearing the gold watch again."

Emily's lip quivered as she hung the phone up. she had her back turned to everyone as she was staring at the crime scene photos. "What's wrong with her?" JJ asked as they all stood amongst Reid. "I have no idea." "Prentiss, do you know something?" Hotch asked as her started to walk towards her. Emily turned around with glossy eyes, "M…..my….my mom is one of them women missing from that spa."


	26. Chapter 26

"Prentiss what do you mean?" Hotch asked as the BAU team moved closer to Emily. She turned around with fresh tears clouding her vision. "My mom is one of those women missing. She went to that spa to treat herself before coming to talk to me and now she-she-she's gone. She's dead and nobody even knew." Morgan rushed to Emily's side and pulled her away from everyone. "Prentiss. Emily look at me. Look me in the eye." Emily let out a few shaky breaths and let stray tears fall before she solemnly lifted her head to face Morgan. "We don't know anything right now. She could've have gone to a different spa. She could've left before anything happened. We don't know anything right now. Let's just take a breath….Emily breathe. We will figure this out step-by-step with you right here. We'll call your family and go from there. Right now, you need to just take deep breaths. We'll figure this out Emily, I promise you that." Emily stared into Morgan's eyes before finally giving a small nod. They both conveyed a message of understanding with their eyes.

Emily and Morgan came back into the open area with the rest of the team. Rossi placed all the photos of belongings on the table. "Emily, do you recognize any of these items as your mother's?" Emily's eyes scanned the table and did a doubletake of the photos. Emily pointed to the far-left picture on the top row. "That's my sister Payson's bag. She said that my mom borrowed her bag for this getaway. I know it's hers because Payson and I stood in line when we were in Milan for four hours to get that bag. She also got a custom color which she had delivered. That's the bag that Payson lent our mom." JJ grabbed that picture and placed it off to the side. Emily looked over the pictures once more and pointed to another one. "The watch with the blood on it is my mom's too." Emily said as her eyes started to well up again. "When I was younger, my siblings and I all pooled together money that we'd saved for a few years and bought her that watch. She stopped wearing it af-after Gino died. Payson said that she's just started to wear it again. Is that blood hers?" "Emily…" "Reid don't. Don't lie to me. Is that her blood?"

Reid couldn't handle the intense glare of Emily's red-rimmed eyes, so he looked away quickly and distracted himself with victimology. "Em, we don't know" JJ said softly, trying to soothe Emily. Emily simply ignored her, "Her blood type is AB +. She has elevated blood pressure. She got injured in a skiing accident when she was a teenager and has an implant in her leg. She-" "Emily. We'll figure it out. Just breathe sweetie. Do you want me to call Sean?" JJ asked as she rubbed Emily's forearm. "Already did. He's on the next flight out and Leona is going to be with Alan and Jordana", Hotch interjected. Emily was on edge for the next three hours while they waited for preliminary blood tests. Emily was sitting on a small couch biting her nails. She was filing through all the worst possible scenarios in her mind and hadn't realized that she was biting her nails to the point that she was bleeding. Sean came in and Hotch pointed towards Emily. Sean went over to her and his heart broke completely. Sean pulled Emily's fingers out her mouth and pulled her in close to him. Emily wrapped her arms around Sean and sobbed into his neck. "She could die. She's probably already dead. I just don't know what to do." "Shhh shh baby it's okay. We'll get through this." "Sean she's dead. I know it. She can't still be alive." "You don't know that sweetheart." Emily coughed through tears, "Yes I do." "I don't think she's dead Em." "How can you be so sure?" "Because she raised you", Sean said as he tenderly cupped Emily's chin between his index finger and thumb. "If she can raise my tough-as-nails future wife, then there's no way that she'd go down without a fight." Sean wiped Emily's tears and she rushed to compose herself when the door swung open.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. Here's an icepack for your hands." Emily looked down at her raw and tender nails that were slightly bleeding. "Thank you Hotch." "I just got off the phone with your father. The last time he talked to her was three days ago. He'll be landing in a couple of hours." Emily looked past Hotch to see JJ rushing back into the bullpen with the rest of the officers. Emily got up and went into the open area. "JJ what's going on?" "After you gave us a pretty clear history and your father told us about the DNA profile your mother had on file, we found some things out. Emily, some of the blood is hers, not very much, but none of the body parts we recovered are hers. This means that there's a strong possibility that she escaped." Emily let out a shaky breath as JJ squeezed her hand in a comforting matter. "Where do we look now?"

Emily let Sean pull her back into one of the detective's office and held her close. He got up briefly and went to the microwave to heat up food in a Tupperware container that Emily didn't even notice. The aroma of the food made her stomach growl and her mouth water. "Here you go sweetie. I cooked before I left and brought you some. We need to keep you and junior here healthy." "Thank you baby." Sean and Emily sat in comfortable silence as she ate. Her phone started to ring and she patted around aimlessly for it until she got a grip on it at the bottom of her purse. "Prentiss."

A mechanically altered voice caused Emily with to shiver and furrow her brows in confusion. "Prentiss? I'm surprised that you haven't started going by Hotchner by now. You are practically married, right? You seemed to have gotten the more attractive and supportive Hotchner of the two." Emily's eyes widened and she gripped Sean's forearm tightly. "Who is this? How did you get my number?" Sean immediately got up and rushed to go get Hotch. He came back into the room with Emily's team. JJ had a phone to her ear with who only Emily could assume was Garcia. Emily put the phone down and turned the speaker on. "What do you want from me?" "Aw little Emily Prentiss, no foreplay. And I thought that you FBI profilers, I'm sorry—behavioral analysts, loved to play mind games. Instead of asking what I want, shouldn't you be asking why I'm calling you. I understand that your mother is missing. Who would do a thing like that? But she's not your real mom, is she? Your real mother's name is Elizabeth and she walked out on you when you were a baby. Then, dear old daddy met Diem and she became your mother. You grew up to be an FBI agent and kept your love affair with the boss's baby brother a secret. You kept your relationship so secret that none of your friends even knew that you had a baby. What kind of friend are you Emily?" Emily's face was bright red and she had tears welled up in her eyes. "You don't know anything about me", Emily bit out. "I know everything about you. I know how you watched your son die. I know how your fiancé relapsed once again after that. I know how you took in a little girl while you were on a case. I know how you let Elizbeth back in your life and iced Diem out of it. Let me ask you this, does your pregnancy take away from the time you spend with your daughter, her name is Leona, right? Surprisingly, she looks like both you and Sean. What are you having? Girl or Boy? Will mommy be around long enough to see? You can tell your analyst friend that she won't find me, no matter how hard she tries."

"What did you do to my mother? Answer me!" Emily cried out as her breathing started to pick up. "Sly." Emily let out a loud gasp, "Mom. Are you okay?" "I'm okay. Make sure your brother Aaron picks up your sister Morgan and keep them both relaxed. Please don't tell them anything." Emily was beyond confused as she tried to figure out what her mother was trying to tell her. "Mom? Mom please talk to me." The altered voice came back on the phone, "Time's up little Emily." "No!" Emily screamed out in frustration as she threw her phone across the room and a lone tear made it way down her cheek. Sean held Emily as she broke down into sobs. "How does he know so much about us?" Sean asked. "He's probably been following you two, or at least Emily, for quite some time."

JJ hung her phone up and tried to reign in her anger, "Garcia is just as pissed off as us. She said that this guy was bouncing from server to server and the closest she got to him was in Shanghai, which is someplace that this guy is obviously not." "Stalking Emily or not, this guy didn't do his complete research on the family. He did enough to spook her" Rossi said as he paused to look around at confused faces. "He didn't even register the sibling names. Diem was making a point to say Hotch and Morgan's names. What's even more odd is when she said to keep them relaxed and not to tell them anything."

"I think I know where she is" Emily said in a low voice as everyone turned to face her. "When we were kids, my brothers, Freddie and Frankie, had code words for everything. We went on a helicopter ride when I was around 8 or 9. It was in California, so we of course had a pop quiz game going on. Freddie said that the best way to remember the difference between the Redlands airport and LAX were that lax is for LAX and relaxed is for Redlands airport. That's where she is. She had to have known that I'd recognize it. She deliberately chose to say what she did. Hotch she's there. My mom is at Redlands Airport, I'm sure." "It's an airport Prentiss, we don't even know where to start looking" Hotch said in a slightly defeated sigh.

"Emily's mom stressed the fact of not telling Aaron and Morgan anything. What does that mean?" Reid asked out loud as he tried to make sense of everything happening. "There-there's a wing at Redlands called Tellucci, after a very wealthy donor. Hotch, please, she's there. I feel it in my heart that she's there." Hotch looked at the pleading look in her eyes. "Emily, you stay here and we'll get on the jet and fly to Redlands airport. JJ, notify the police that we're on our way. Emily, we'll keep you in the loop."

The team started to pile out after they'd gathered everything they needed, Emily stopped Morgan by grabbing his arm. "Derek please bring my mom back." "I don't have much of a choice princess. She's got to be around to spoil her grandbabies." Morgan rubbed Emily's belly once and kissed her on the temple before filing out behind the rest of the team.


	27. Chapter 27

"Sean. Sweetie wake up" Emily said as she jostled Sean out of his slumber. Sean jolted upright and roughly wiped the sleep from his eyes. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" "Baby we need to go to the hospital." "Why?" "I just went to the bathroom. I'm bleeding." Sean felt everything come to a halt and he felt his chest constrict. He jumped to his feet almost immediately and stopped a nearby officer, "Excuse me, how do I get to the hospital from here. My fiancé is pregnant and she said she's bleeding." "I can take the two of you. Are you ready to go?" "Just let me go get her." Sean went back into the secluded office and grabbed Emily. "Come on sweetheart. There's a cop here that's going to take us to the hospital." Emily nodded her head and grabbed Sean's hand as they climbed in the car and set off for the hospital. The noisy ER waiting room and the smell of disinfectant all attacked Emily's senses at once. Her panic rose and she couldn't stop shaking if she tried. She didn't even feel like she was in her body until a nurse laid her back on a gurney and lifted her shirt. The cold gel set Emily's nerves on fire and she had a death grip on Sean's hand. The rapid beating heart instantly calmed Emily and the visual of the small fetus allowed her chest to finally relax and go back to normal. Sean let out a sigh of relief and kissed Emily's knuckles.

"I don't see anything wrong with the pregnancy. In my medical opinion, you are simply one of the few women who still has their menstrual cycle during pregnancy. It happens more often than people think. Would you like copies of the ultrasound?" "Yes please. We'll need about a dozen" Sean said as he ran a hand through Emily's hair. When the doctor came back with the ultrasounds as well as the discharge papers, Emily couldn't stop staring at the ultrasound with a goofy grin and left Sean to do the paperwork. They walked out of the hospital surprised and relieved to see the same detective waiting for them. "Everything okay?" The young Cuban woman asked. "Yes, we're okay. Thank you for waiting, you didn't have to do that." Emily said with a smile. "Are you kidding? This is my first case with your unit as a detective. The first time I met your team, I was still walking a beat. You guys are pretty legendary in my book." "Thank you." "No problem. Glad I could help. Now let's get you guys back before your team starts to get worried."

XXXXxxxxxJJJJJxxxxx

"Where's Emily?" "I'm right here. We just got back from the hospital." "Hospital? What happened?" JJ asked alarmed. "I just freaked out with all the stress. I'm fine, I promise. Here is an ultrasound for everybody" Emily said as she handed one out to each member of the team. She made a note to try and frame Garcia's just so she wouldn't feel left out. She walked over with the rest of the team to the open area. "Sly." Emily's eyes filled up with fresh tears and she let them fall as she ran over to her mother. She rubbed her finger over the large bandage on her forehead and cupped her mother's face into her shaking hands. "I'm fine. I promise sweetheart. I'm fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises." Hotch discreetly whispered in Sean's ear "She was stabbed twice and took some pretty nasty blows to her torso but all in all she'll be fine with time. She didn't want Emily to know." "Thanks Aaron."

Emily couldn't stop the tears from falling as she stared at her mother and thanked her lucky stars that she was right. She turned around, still securely wrapped in her mother's arms, and asked, "So who was it?" The team all looked amongst one another before all settling their gaze on Rossi. He took a deep breath before responding. "It was Elle Greenaway. She was targeting Hotch. She'd been planning it as revenge." "That doesn't make any sense." Hotch spoke up, "My um girlfriend Janice was supposed to be at that spa. It was my turn with Jack and she offered to help Jessica out because we got called on this case. Elle was planning on Janice being there. She stills blames me for her getting shot and for the investigation that she was under before she resigned from the bureau. She's been nursing a grudge for about 5 years. It was just a happy coincidence that your mom was there. She probably saw her license and knew that she was somehow related to you. She knew that kidnapping your mother would bring the team out here so that's what she did." "Where is she?" "The LVPD has her in custody and because she didn't cross state lines, she'll likely have her trial and go to prison in Nevada. I'm really sorry that your family got dragged into this Emily." Diem rubbed her hands up and down Emily's arms, careful to not jostle her own injuries, "I'm okay Sly and she's in police custody. Everything will be fine." "Let's go home."

KKKKKKKKKdddddddddddddddNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNYyyyyyyyyyyyy

Emily and Sean took Diem back to their house to prevent her from being bombarded by the family. Emily made sure that she got settled in one of the guestrooms as Sean let her father in. "Sean, thanks for calling. How are they, the both of them? How are they really doing?" "Diem took some pretty nasty hits and she got stabbed twice and has a gash on her forehead. The doctors said that she'll be fine in time. Emily was just scared and stressed out because of the entire situation but she'll be okay." He shook his head and let Sean guide him to the room that Diem was resting in. When Sean opened the door, she immediately smiled up at her husband from her position in the bed. Sean left the two of them to rest for the night and went upstairs to check on Emily. He stopped in place and rubbed her fingers tips across the pink and purple letters on the door. L-E-O-N-A. Sean was grateful that he'd decided to let Leona stay with Jordana and Alan for another night. She wouldn't understand the situation and would expect everyone to be ready to play some game with her instead of putting what just happened behind them.

Sean walked into the master bedroom and looked at the rumpled bed but didn't see Emily. He saw a faint glow from under the bathroom door and knocked on it softly. She didn't answer so he turned the knob slowly and walked into the bathroom. She was sitting on the floor next to the tub while the shower was running and steam quickly filled the room. Sean sat down next to her and leaned against the tub. Emily laid her head on Sean's shoulder and he felt the tears leaving a wet spot on his shoulder. "She's hurt. I could feel the bandages when I held her. She was beaten, probably even stabbed. I know she won't tell me anything because she doesn't want to stress me out but I'm going to worry regardless. What the hell did she do to my mom?" Sean looked down at Emily, the steam of the shower making her cheeks rosy and giving her a glowing look, and pulled the elastic band from around her wrist and pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail. He kissed her forehead, "She's your mom. It's her job to gloss over things. You know that if the roles were reversed, you wouldn't tell Lee everything that happened. She knows that you will worry but she wants you to focus on staying healthy for the baby. Look at me Emily." Sean waited until Emily's watery brown orbs looked into his, "All of us will be fine. You, me, Lee, and the baby will be okay and happy here. Aaron, Haley, Jack, and both their significant others will be fine and content. Your parents will put all of this behind them in time. The Prentiss-Hotchner family will be completely fine because we are all strong people. This will be a distant memory." Emily grabbed Sean's hand and kissed it before kissing his lips. "You always know what to say." "Let's go to bed" Sean said as he got off the floor and grabbed Emily with him before turning off the shower and guiding them into the bedroom.

The next morning Emily woke up before Sean and stared at his form before quietly slipping out the room and downstairs. Emily opened the front door to grab the paper and came face to face with a bouquet of flowers. "Emily is that you?"


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Not sure how many but this story is coming to an end in less than 10 chapters. There will be a few more twists and turns. I'm running out of ideas and don't want to ruin this story by dragging it out to the point of no return. Happy Reading.**

"Mrs. Hotchner, this isn't a really good time. we've been going through some things in the past few days." Emily looked past Lindsey Hotchner and saw her mother's car pulling up and groaned internally. Emily turned her head when she heard footsteps and smiled when she saw Sean coming downstairs. The cool wooden floor sent chills through the soles of his feet. He walked towards the slightly ajar front door and wrapped his arms around Emily's middle. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her on the lips when she turned her head to face him. "Sweetie your mom's here." Sean looked up and smiled at his mother before releasing Emily and hugging his mother. "What are you doing here mom?" "Making amends." "Oh that's not necessary" Emily said waving it off. "I beg to differ." Just then, Elizabeth finally got out of her car and walked up to the front door. Emily leaned back against Sean and whispered in his ear, "It's visitation day for us." Elizabeth walked up the steps and hugged Emily. "Hello sweetheart." "Hi mom." Elizabeth turned to face Lindsey and extended her hand. "I'm Elizabeth, Emily's mother." Lindsey looked confused but still extended her hand. "Lindsey. Sean's mother." "Let's go inside" Sean said and opened the door wider and he and Emily stepped aside. "I'm going to go check on them." Emily whispered before heading upstairs. Sean guided Elizabeth and Lindsey into the living room. "I'm going to make some breakfast. You two want coffee or anything?" They both said yes.

Emily knocked gently on the door to the guestroom. "Come in." Emily opened the door and saw her father sitting on the bed. "She's in the bathroom throwing up. She won't let me in." he said with his head hung in defeat. Emily nodded her head and walked over to the bathroom and rapped her knuckles on the door. She opened the door slowly and closed it behind her as she walked over her to her mother and rubbed soothing circles on her back. "I'm sorry." Diem managed to get out in between gagging on her vomit. "It's okay mom. It's not your fault. Did you have a nightmare?" Diem merely responded by looking up at Emily with wide, frightened, and child-like eyes. "It's okay Mom. I've had nightmares before. Truthfully, I still do at times. I have nightmares about what Lee has gone through. I have nightmares about losing Gino. I have nightmares about some of the cases I've worked. I have nightmares about Sean's relapsing. I have nightmares about this pregnancy. I have nightmares about losing another child. I have nightmares about something triggering Lee which leads her down a dangerous path. I'm scared of so much and I don't know what to do about it. I know what it feels like to be afraid to tell Dad about your nightmares because I'm always terrified to tell Sean."

"I feel so lost. I'm so scared. I'm afraid to close my eyes. Nobody else saw what I saw in that spa. Nobody else saw what she did to those other women. She killed out of a rage that she'd been holding on for far longer than when she got shot. That kind of anger is freighting. Emily, I have that kind of rage inside of me. What if I lose it the way that she did?" Diem said exhausted as she finally let her tears win the battle and stream down her face. Emily wiped her tears away as she got directly in front of Diem and cradled her face. "Mom you are NOT Elle Greenaway. You were brutalized; you were 13 years old when your virginity was ripped away. What your father and brothers did to you doesn't define you. I know that because you allowed yourself to heal, love, and trust again. You trusted my father with your heart and it paid off. You found a man that loves you flaws and all. You took a chance and loved us; it paid off too. We wouldn't be—at least I wouldn't be—the strong and independent people that we are without your love and guidance. Mom, you are not going to turn into a murderer; you are going to heal physically and mentally just so you can get back to giving us all a swift kick in the ass." Both women were crying when a gentle knock on the door caught their attention. Emily wiped Diem's tears away and gave a small smile. "Ready to face the music?" Diem grabbed Emily's hand and squeezed it. "With you my angel, I'm ready for anything." "Sean's mom and Elizabeth are downstairs" Emily said with an unconscious wince.

"I'll be okay. let's just get this over with." They both stepped out of the bathroom to see Sean and Emily's father waiting for them. Emily ran into Sean's arms as he held her tight and she buried her face in his chest. Jackson reached out to Diem and the dam broke the moment he put his arms around her. She fisted her hand in his shirt as she cried into his neck. He simply laid his palm flat on her back and kissed the top of her head a few times. "It's okay sweetheart. I've got you. I'll always have you."

Once the tears had subsided, the four adults went downstairs to greet the waiting company. Diem immediately went to the kitchen in need of tea and maybe some food. Elizabeth saw Diem head for the kitchen and excused herself before quietly walking in the same direction. Emily saw this but said nothing as she tried but failed to hide the amused smirk on her dad's bewildered face when Lindsey approached him. "I'm here to make amends."

Diem turned around looking for a mug when a voice startled her. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Here's a mug." "Thank you" Diem muttered. Diem felt Elizabeth's eyes on her when she looked up again. There was barely 10 seconds that passed before she found herself enveloped in a hug. Anyone with half a brain would know that Elizabeth wasn't openly affectionate; Diem could feel that the hug was genuine and returned it without hesitation. "Did Emily?" "No, it was Payson and Scarlet. I planned on coming by to check on Emily but it looks like you need someone too. Am I making you uncomfortable?" "No, you're not. You're right…I do need someone else. I never thought that someone would be you." "We do share a slew of children by the same man. We've both made mistakes and choices in our past that we regret. Now is the time to put all that aside because not only do we share children, we share grandchildren together with more to come in the future." Emily smiled from her position in the threshold of the kitchen. Sean came up behind her and whispered in her ear, "That was easier than I thought it would be." "Tell me about it." The doorbell rang once more and Emily groaned. "Babe, we need to disable that damn thing before I destroy it." Sean laughed and walked to the front door to open it.

"DADDY!" Emily turned around at her daughter's voice and felt a smile nearly split her face in two. "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!" Leona screamed as she ran over to her mother. She finally registered all the people in the house. "Mommy, daddy what's going on?"


	29. Chapter 29

"Are you sure that it's her?" "Yes, I am sure. The information you gave me verified that." "How old is she?" "She's roughly four or five. Are you sure that you want to do this? She seems happy were she is and they're all comfortable." "I don't give a damn about their comfort. She belongs with me and that's where she will be." "Okay. let's get started then."

Weeks passed by and the Prentiss-Hotchner family were as busy as bees. Things between their respective families seemed to work themselves out. Sean, Aaron, Jackson, and Sloan were all spending their free time bonding. Elizabeth, Diem, Lindsey, Jordana, and Penelope were all simultaneously driving Emily crazy with the wedding and baby shower planning. They had dragged her into a million baby stores demanding that she be registered in each one. Her sisters were driving her crazy with the nursery planning and giving ideas for baby names. Her two mothers and future mother-in-law were constantly trying to pick out her wedding dress. They about had a heart attack when she said that she wasn't going to wear white. Making them angry was the only fun that Emily was having. She found solace in going over the case reports for the BAU. She couldn't lie—she missed it so bad. Emily also had to think about the reasoning behind her leaving. She had far too many close calls on the job and didn't want to run the risk of not coming home to her family. Today, she'd foolishly had the idea for a cookout, hoping that all the wedding, baby shower, and nursery talk would stop. No such luck. Between all the yammering from everybody, Emily started to get a headache. She was caught in the middle of an argument about wedding floral arrangements between Jordana and Garcia. She took tiny steps backwards until they didn't notice her and she made her retreat into the house.

Being inside the house didn't save her from anything at all. Her sisters were arguing over baby names in the living room. They seemed to be dead serious based off the fact that they had a dry erase board and markers. "Put Danger back up there" Ashlynn whined. "Are you kidding me? This is a baby not an adjective" Payson fired back. "What about Baby?" she offered. Scarlet scoffed, "This is not Dirty Dancing. That's a horrible name." "Gotham?" "Um no Batman. Gotham is out." "Melanomia?" "Why would you name a child after cancer?" Apple?" "It's a baby not a fruit." Emily laughed to herself at the bickering and tiptoed past them until she reached the front door. She breathed a breath of fresh air as she walked out onto her stoop. She looked down and saw JJ sitting there with her knees pulled to her chest. Although both women were nearly the same length of time along in their pregnancy, neither one was showing all that much. Emily still worked out and JJ refused to give into any of her cravings. She sat down next to her blonde friend and nudged her shoulder a little. "What's wrong?" "Just thinking." "About the baby?" "About life after the baby. The job, how will I be as a mother, the living situation. There's just so much." JJ said with a loud exhale. Emily rubbed her hand up and down JJ's back as the blonde sat hunched over. "The job will always be there regardless of what you chose to do after you have the baby. You will be a great mother JJ. Motherhood is all about instinct and making mistakes. Trust me, I make plenty of mistakes dealing with Lee. You will be just fine. As far as the living situation, you have to do what you're most comfortable with. That's the most important conversation to have right now." Emily wasn't prepared for JJ to recoil the way she did. "I'm not you Emily! You're the best agent, a perfect mother, and the future wife that every man wants. I can't be you. My life won't turn out the way yours has." JJ looked at Emily, seeing the hurt expression, and immediately softened her tone. "I'm sorry for lashing out at you. I'm just I don't know overwhelmed. Everything is just too much and I feel like I'm going to lose my mind."

Emily just sat there for a moment, silent, before finding her next words. "I am by no means perfect, not even close. You are a better agent than I am. There's no way that I could wrangle the press the way you do and manage to keep Strauss away from us and Hotch on a leash when he needs it. Again, I am not the perfect mother. I second guess everything that I do. I feel that I'm always doing something wrong. There are times that I feel like I show her more attention than this baby and vice versa. The future wife thing is not all it's cracked up to be. The reason that Sean and I work is because we're both flawed and have spent years helping each other fix those flaws. I love him enough to deal with and help him through a lot just as he would for me. We lost a child. Most people don't survive losing a pregnancy let alone a toddler. It takes work and a lot of it. As far as being overwhelmed, have you been inside? I've got three mothers fighting to pick the designer of my dress. I have Pen and Jordana arguing over flowers and centerpieces. I have my sisters fighting over one ridiculous baby name after the other, and I have the men attempting to pick out our honeymoon. I am the definition of overwhelmed, not to mention that I'm freaking out because pretty soon I will have another child and be starting all over." "I'm sorry Emily. You really do have a lot going on and I'm just making my problem bigger than what it actually is." "JJ I'm not trying to downplay your situation, I'm just being honest. We are both overwhelmed and have a lot of decisions to make before and after these babies are born." "Do you know what you're having?" "No. I kind of just wanted to stay in the dark about that one. You?"

JJ started biting her lip and avoiding Emily's gaze. Emily smiled to herself and blew out a long breath. "You're having a boy, aren't you?" "Yeah", JJ mumbled. "I'm having a boy." "You're going to teach him soccer, aren't you?" JJ laughed and shook her head. "Yeah I am." Just then the front door opened and Leona came outside and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. Emily reached and grabbed her small hands before kissing it. "Yes, my love." "Daddy wants you and Miss Jen to come inside. He said pregnant woman shouldn't be out in the sun." Emily and JJ shared a laugh and helped each other to stand. "Your dad is really bossy Leona", JJ said in a teasing manner. "Mommy's the boss. Daddy is just the sidekick." Emily laughed loudly and she closed the front door behind them. "That's my girl."

Emily was just getting comfortable when the doorbell rang. "Sean, did you invite somebody else over?" she asked. Her question fell on deaf ears because he was too busy cracking jokes with the guys. Emily opened the door and came face-to-face with two women who looked like tax accountants. "May I help you?" "Are you Emily Hotchner?" the older one asked. Emily folded her arms across her chest, "Depends on who's asking." "I'm Ming Chen with the Department of Children Services and this is Holly Stall." "Can I see identification?" Emily tapped her foot as she waited for the women to show some ID. Sean came inside and kissed the top of Leona's head as she watched her aunts come up with ridiculous baby names. "Where's mommy?" "She went to answer the door." Sean nodded and walked in the direction of the open door. Emily was just handing both women their IDs back when she felt Sean's hands on her. "What's going on?" "This is Ming Chen from DCS and Holly Stall. They were just getting ready to tell me why they're here. You aren't our case worker so why are you here?" "We're here to talk to you about the little girl you took in." Emily felt Sean stiffen behind her, "That little girl is our daughter" he said. "No she's not." Holly spoke up. Emily had fire in her eyes. "Excuse me? What did you just say?" "She's not your daughter. She's my niece." Emily's jaw dropped as she felt her heart stop momentarily. "No no that can't be. We were told that there was no family. We were told that she was all alone and that her mother was dead. She's not your niece because she's my daughter." "I'm sorry. She's not your daughter. Legally, the two of you are her guardians but she is my blood. My sister, her mother, stopped talking to me when she let that piece of scum into her life. We didn't talk for 9 years. She let him control her every move, her every decision. She went to prison because she took the rap for him. I have spent the last 7 years searching for my sister. Only to find out that she's dead and that she had a little girl. I have spent the last four years thinking that she was dead. I have spent nearly every dime that I have trying to find her and now that I have, I want her to be with me." Emily felt like she was going to pass out and gripped the side of the doorframe. "You can't take her. She's ours. No. You can't do that" Emily said through tears. Leona heard her mother crying and got off the couch. Emily's sisters were just about to ask her something when they saw her walking towards the front door. The sudden movement of the group of women caused JJ, Jordana, Penelope, Aaron and Sean and Emily's parents to come inside and figure out what was going on.

Emily kept shaking her head no, "You can't take her. She is my daughter. We're a family." Holly had very little sympathy and simply said, "No she is **my** family. She is my blood, not yours. She is the only part of my sister that I have left. I can't just sit back and watch someone else raise her. She doesn't belong with you. She belongs with me and I'm not leaving here without her." Sean patience ran out in that instant. "You are not taking our daughter." Leona appeared behind Emily. "Mommy what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Sean watched as two police officers made their way towards the house. He felt Emily's body run cold as he held her. "No no no. Sean they can't take her." By this time everyone was behind Emily and Sean in the doorway listening. The DCS worker presented a folded-up document to Emily and Sean. "A judge says that we can. This gives us the right to take Shelby into her aunt's custody." "Her name is Leona" Emily hissed out. "My sister always wanted a daughter named Shelby. Her name is Shelby Stall." "No! Her name is Leona Hotchner and she's staying here." The DCS worker tried to intervene, "Let's not make this any harder on Le—the child—I am sorry Mr. and Mrs. Hotchner but you don't have much of a choice. She is coming with us. Please don't make this harder for her."

Holly reached for Leona but she pulled away and hid behind her mother's leg. She tried again with the same result. "She's coming with me. You have a baby on the way so what difference does it make anyways?" "She is ours." "Not anymore. Come here Shelby. I'm your aunt and you're coming home with me." Leona started to cry and buried her face in the back of her mother's thighs. "My name is Leona. Mommy, Daddy please don't make me go. Please. I want to stay here with my family." It was hard for everyone not to cry as they watched the scene unfold. Intervening wasn't going to help because they had legal paperwork to back up their reason for coming by. Emily's sisters and friends couldn't watch it anymore and dissolved into tears in the living room. Holly kept reaching for Leona and her cries only got worse. "Can you tell her that she has to come with me?"

As much as Emily hated Holly right now, she knew that she had to be strong for Leona. She kneeled down and held Leona as close to her as possible. "I love you more than life itself. I don't want you to ever forget that. Right now, you have to go with this woman." "But why? Don't you want me to stay?" she asked before her tear-filled sobs took over. "I want you to stay more than anything in this world. I will always be here for you, don't ever forget that. I will never ever stop loving you. I will fight for you with everything that I have in me until I have nothing left. You are my baby girl no matter what. I love you so much my little marshmallow. I will always love you." Leona was downright bawling now. Sean kneeled down and hug her tightly. "We will always love you. You will always have a place with us. Right now, we have to handle some grown-up stuff so that we can get you back. We will never stop trying to get you back. I am so sorry that we have to let you go with these ladies but we have to. Don't think for a second that we love you any less because we don't." Emily, Sean and Leona were all crying and everyone seemed uncomfortable and emotional, even the officers and the DCS worker—everyone except Holly. Sean wiped away Emily and Leona's tears as he hugged the both of them tightly and as if his life depended on it. Leona wouldn't let Holly touch her but she eventually grabbed one of the officer's hands. As they slowly walked away, Leona looked back once more and Emily felt her heart break. "She's gone. Oh my God! My daughter's gone!"


	30. Chapter 30

It had been two weeks—two miserable weeks—since Leona went to live with her 'aunt'. Emily cried herself to sleep every night. She spent her days just sitting in Leona's room clutching her teddy bear as if it was her only lifeline. Sean came home a few times to see her sleeping in Leona's bed with dry tear tracks on her face. He'd carry her into their room and tuck her in. Sean spent very little time at the restaurant, although Emily thought otherwise. He spent hours on end in the Bronx and other times at the cemetery. Sean would leave in the mornings telling Emily that he was spending more time at the restaurant but he'd instead take a cab to the Bronx and mingle with crowds that he hadn't been around in years. After a while, his days started to run together and the lies added up; the surprising thing was that Emily never picked up on it.

Emily wouldn't answer the phone or the door for anyone. In the past two weeks, she'd only left the house once to go to her doctor's appointment. She felt numb to everything around her. The repressed feelings of depression that she had for the pregnancy started to come to the surface. Her anxiety was starting to take over; if she wasn't crying, she was vomiting. The doctor told her that she wanted to keep a closer eye on her. She also informed Emily that the baby had rotated in position for delivery and that she could deliver any day now. Hearing that the baby was almost here used to make Emily happy, but now it just made her more depressed. Leona was supposed to be here. She was supposed to be excited for her younger sibling. She was supposed to be here to help Emily finish the nursery. She was just supposed to be here. Every second that past by made Emily's heart break more and more. She became oblivious to Sean's existence. The only thing that she wanted was her little girl back

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Holly was starting to go insane. Since, she'd taken Leona home, the little girl hadn't said more than 5 words to her. She heard her crying everyday but never went to console her. She expected Leona to be happy with her because she was her blood. She never answered when Holly called her Shelby, but she refused to call the girl Leona. Her name was and is Shelby and this was where she was supposed to be. Holly was happy that it was summer break because she was scrambling to find a school for her. No one at her old school was being cooperative. Her calls and emails were ignored by Sean. She'd even went as far as calling his older brother, Aaron, only to be told off in the worst way. Holly was happy that she took Shelby. She refused to let her 'family' filled her with venom. She let out a sigh and turned from the open window were the little girl was playing outside and poured herself a full glass of wine. The crimson liquid slid smoothly down her throat and she relished in the relief it brought her. She hadn't anticipated that she'd be using alcohol as such a crutch when she took her niece in.

Just as she finished the glass of wine and started to pour another, she heard a scream and ran outside. She saw Leona on the ground clutching her arm as tears slid down her cheeks. She ran out to grab her but Leona screamed and pushed her away. "I want my mommy. Mommy! I want my mommy!" She tried to touch her again, "It's okay Shelby. Auntie Holly is right here." She cried louder and pulled away and held her arm tighter. "We need to go to the hospital right now." Leona wouldn't let Holly touch her but she went out to the car and climbed inside. Holly didn't even think about the fact that she was just drinking wine before she got behind the wheel of the car.

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Emily got out of Leona's bed and went to do the laundry that she'd neglected for days. She was on the last load of laundry when she grabbed Sean's jacket off the floor. She started emptying out his pockets and froze when she pulled something out of his inside pocket. Tears immediately filled her chocolate brown eyes and she sank to her knees and started to cry once again. Sean came home nearly 6 hours later and slammed the front door without realizing it. Emily had moved from the laundry room to the couch and leaned into it as the tears kept flowing. She'd been cramping but chalked it up to the baby shifting positions once again. Sean stopped walking when he saw her red eyes. "Baby-" Emily held up a hand to stop him. "If the first thing out of your mouth is going to be a lie, then don't bother." "Emily, what are you talking about? Is the baby okay? What's wrong?"

"You are what's wrong." Emily paused as she stood up and a bolt of pain passed through her pelvis. She reached into the pocket of the cardigan she was wearing and pulled something out. "What is this Sean?" Sean's face paled and his heartrate picked up as he scrambled for an answer. "I can explain." Emily started sobbing and took a deep breath, "Sean, if you've been doing what I think you have then I can't do this anymore. I lost her too. She was taken away from me too. I am hurting too but you don't see me doing something that I know would break your heart. Sean, I have the patience to handle a lot of things but not this." "Are you leaving me?" Sean asked with tears finally flowing from his eyes. "I can't raise this baby with you if you've relapsed again. I can't keep helping you get clean only for you to do it all over again. You're taking the coward way out instead of just handling your feelings. I can't raise a baby with a cocaine addict. Can you please just leave?" Sean reached out to Emily but she turned her back and shrugged his hand away. He felt his heart breaking. He finally pushed Emily to the point of no return. He couldn't live without her but he made his choice and she made hers. He silently walked away and closed the door behind him. Emily dropped onto the couch and cried into the pillows. Sean sat outside their house for about an hour just sobbing before he finally got up and walked away.

Emily's physical pains were getting worse but her emotional ones hurt the most. She heard a knock on her front door but refused to get up. She couldn't handle Sean's begging and pleading. She'd just give in to him, like she always did, but she had another person to think about and couldn't let Sean keep breaking her heart with his constant relapses. The knocking stopped and she heard the front door creak open. The footsteps got closer and she slowly turn her head and was surprised to see Haley standing in her living room. She locked eyes with Haley and her sobs got louder. "Oh honey, it's okay." Haley said as she rushed over and gathered Emily in her arms. She rubbed soothing motions on her back and rocked her gently. Emily allowed herself to lean into Haley more and be comforted. "It's going to be okay sweetie. I'm not leaving you. I'm here. It's okay." Emily grunted against Haley's shoulder and clutched her stomach. Haley pulled away just as Emily's water broke. "Emily! You're in labor. We need to get you to the hospital." Emily calmly followed Haley out the door after Haley picked up her hospital bag. She didn't make a sound the whole ride but her grip on Haley's hand let the woman know that her contractions were getting worse.

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Leona and Holly were finally called to the back so that her arm could get looked at. The doctor examined Leona and determined that it was in fact a clean break and that she'd need a cast. Holly gnawed on her fingernails but remained silent. The doctor returned and asked, "What color would you like for your cast to be?" Leona thought for a second, "Purple. It's my mommy's favorite color" she said solemnly. The doctor turned to Holly, "You like purple huh?" Holly sputtered but Leona spoke up again, "She's not my mommy. My mommy has long red hair and pretty brown eyes." Holly looked as if she'd just been slapped and the doctor excused himself from the tense room. "Shelby, why would you say that?" Holly asked as she rose from the chair. "Because it's the truth. My name is Leona, not Shelby. My mommy's name is Emily and my daddy's is Sean. My mommy's having a baby and I'm not even there. I just want my family back." "I am your family." "You're a stranger." "No. My sister and your mother's name was Karen." "She's not my mommy. My mommy and daddy protect me from the bad guys. She left me with the bad man. He hurt a lot of kids and put them in the backyard. A mommy doesn't leave kids. They stay to protect them. The bad man was my daddy but he didn't love me like my daddy does. My mommy reads to me. She sings to me. She makes sure that none of the bubbles get in my eyes when my hair gets washed. She kisses all my boo-boos. My daddy makes me laugh. He cooks for me and mommy and always tucks me in. They come to all my games and cheer for me. We take lots of pictures and my daddy gave me my favorite teddy bear. I have three grandmas and one grandpa. Nana Liz helps me catch butterflies. She always lets me get balloons and we got to the park all the time. Nana Diem takes me shopping and we have fashion shows. Nana Lindsey always lets me watch The Grinch. We make popcorn together and draw pictures together.

Uncle Aaron lets me ride on his shoulders when we go to the zoo. Auntie Haley lets me play with glitter and make pictures for mommy. Jack-Jack never lets big kids be mean to me. He teaches me how to catch and throw balls. Auntie JJ is having a baby just like mommy. She teaches me how to play soccer. Uncle Derek build forts with me. He makes me laugh and we make funny faces together. Uncle Spencer reads big books to me and does magic tricks. He made a quarter come out my ear. Auntie Penelope plays dress up with me. We play pretend all the time. Uncle Dave teaches me about horses. He bought me a pony and taught me how to ride it. Valerie is my BFF and we do everything together. We tell jokes and we have a treehouse together in my backyard. We have sleepovers and we always play hide and seek together. The only thing that you have made me do is cry. I want to go home to my family." Leona finished as she brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. Holly just stood there with her mouth wide open, unable to say anything.

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Three floors up, Emily's contractions were so intense that they left her in the fetal position and clutching the side of the bed. Haley had no idea what was going on between Emily and Sean, so she called Aaron. He was on his way back to New York anyways to check on them so it all worked out. Hotch found Sean sitting on the sidewalk outside of he and Emily's old apartment. He sat down next to his brother. "She's gone Aaron. She left me for good this time." Hotch let out a breath, "Did you relapse again?" Sean's shoulders shook as he shook his head. "No but it's been so hard not to. I've bought coke six different times but never took it. The first five times I came to my senses after a few hours and threw it away." "But not this time?" "The feeling of having another child ripped away just took over. I kept it in my jacket pocket and forgot about it. Emily found it. She said that she can't raise a child with an addict." "Did you tell her that you didn't take it?" "No. It doesn't matter. She's needed me and I haven't been there. She was the only thing that kept me from relapsing. I just kept thinking about how much I've put her through and she doesn't deserve it. I keep screwing up and it's not fair." "Sean, you need to find an outlet for your depression. Don't deny it. You have every reason to be depressed. You watched your son die and your daughter was taken from you. Instead of buying drugs, regardless as to if you take them or not, maybe you should try therapy. I'm sure that Emily did something similar. If that doesn't work, then remember that I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere. I am your brother…for better or worse." "Thanks man." "You ready to man up?" Sean looked up at Hotch in confusion, "What are you talking about?" "Your baby is ready to make its arrival." "What! Emily's in labor?" "Yes. Are you ready to go?"

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Emily's death grip on Haley's was nearly unbearable but she didn't move her hand and instead rubbed Emily's knuckles soothingly. Emily vaguely heard the doctor telling her that the baby was crowning when the door swung open and she saw Sean. Her tears started again and she immediately reached out to him and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Please don't leave Sean." "Never baby never." Emily held on to Sean for dear life as she started pushing again. She screamed as she felt the baby leave her body. She looked up and realized that Sean had never stopped looking at her. The cries of the newborn turned their attention to the baby. "Dad, would you like to cut the cord?" "Of course" he said through teary eyes. Emily watched him with adoration as he held their child after it was bundled. He looked exactly the way he did when he held Gino for the first time. He turned and gently laid the baby on her chest.

The two parents said in comfortable silence as they held their baby against after its checkup. They heard footsteps and figured it was their respective families coming for a visit. A knock on the door somewhat disturbed the bundle and Emily rocked the baby slowly while cooing. "Come in." Sean said, reluctant to move from his place next to Emily. The door opened and Emily tensed when she saw Holly. "Why are you here?" she asked as she protectively held her baby tighter. "Congratulations" Holly said as she motioned towards the sleeping newborn. "I made a huge mistake. I completely ripped your family apart and I'm sorry for that. I foolishly thought that having a part of my sister would make up for not having all of her. My sister loved the father of her child more than her actual child. She left her with him knowing the awful things that he would do. He raped and abused his own daughter in every way imaginable. She chose to take a prison sentence so that he would stay with her. I was so wrong for storming into your close-knit family and ripping her away. She has so many happy memories with you and only loneliness and anger with me. The best decision that I can make is to give you your daughter back. I'm going to take a job in Brazil that starts in a few months, so you don't have to worry about me. I'm signing away my rights to Shel—Leona. She will be a much happier child with the two of you." Holly handed Sean a document that showed that she was relinquishing her rights.

"Is this really happening?" Emily said in surprise as she read the paper in Sean's hands. "She's outside. I really wish all of you health and happiness." "Thank you Holly." "This is the way it should've been. I'm sorry for disrupting your family and I hope that I haven't caused too much trouble. I'll send her in." Emily held her breath, thinking that this was a practical joke, until the door open and Leona came inside. Emily and Sean's smiles matched Leona's as she ran over and Sean picked her up. She hugged his neck as tightly as she could; he placed her down on the bed and she carefully hugged Emily's neck. "I missed you mommy." "I missed you too baby." Leona looked down at the baby. "The baby's here mommy" she whispered in Emily's ear. Emily pulled back and kissed Leona's nose. "Yes marshmallow, the baby's here" Leona gently touched the baby's hand and smiled when it gripped her finger and opened its eyes. "What's the baby's name?" "Your sister doesn't have a name yet. Do you want to name her?" Sean asked as he sat back down on the bed. Leona looked from Emily and Sean to her little sister and nodded yes.

"Angel Gina Hotchner" she said proudly. Her smile nearly split her face when the baby nuzzled her finger and closed her eyes.


	31. Chapter 31

"How are we doing today Sean?" the therapist asked from his position across from Sean in the semi-big room. He watched in silence as Sean fiddled with his watch and avoided eye contact. He waited for a few moments longer before speaking again. "Are we having yet another session of silence? Sean, you have been coming to me for months now and I've barely managed to get a full conversation out of you."

"Maybe you're not as good at your job as you think." Sean said under his breath but loud enough for his therapist to hear. _Sarcasm. Sarcasm is good. It's a start._ The older man smirked slightly and placed his notepad down before leaning forward. "Why don't you help me be better at my job. How's work?"

"Busy." Sean said dismissively and with a frustrated sigh he said, "Look therapy…talking about feelings is not my strong suit. This just feels forced. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me." Sean gathered himself and sunk back further into the oversized chair. "Do you feel better now that you've got all that off your chest?" Sean's face resembled a rebellious teenager and he glared at his therapist. "Don't treat me like a therapist. Treat me like someone that's trying to get to know you. Who is Sean Hotchner?"

"Sean Hotchner is an over-qualified, underpaid, law school dropout turned chef. Sean Hotchner has been given a saint who refuses to turn her back on him. That same saint gave Sean Hotchner two angels and a guardian angel to look over them. Sean Hotchner is a complete and utter mess." "Let's start slow. Anything new happened at work lately?" "My pastry chef and I have opened a bakery together. There, we specialize in custom cakes and baked goodies for all kinds of occasions. We've had over 200 orders in just the past few months. It just made more sense to open a bakery rather than try to work it into the restaurant." "How is your restaurant?" "We expanded. We didn't have much of a choice. Our clientele had shot through the roof. We bought out the few blocks next door to us and expanded the entire place. With the rise in customers, I got the pleasure of hiring about 8 more chefs and another pastry chef. Business is booming and I am eternally grateful for that."

"How's the home life? How are your daughters?" Sean's wide smile seemed to brighten his entire mood before he actually spoke. "Leona is great. She's getting so big. I'm having a hard time coping with the fact that she's growing up so fast. We celebrated her 6th birthday last month. She says that she wants to be a pilot so that she can travel all over the world." Sean stopped momentarily to chuckle. "Of course, two months ago she wanted to be a model. Before that, an actress, firefighter, baseball player, dog trainer, veterinarian, dentist, and an astronaut." "She has big dreams like any kid should." "I'll support her in whatever she chooses to do." "How is Angel?" "She's the happiest six-month-old that you'll ever see. I'm convinced that she only laughs. She rarely cries, even when she's hungry or needs to be changed. She has Emily's beautiful brown eyes. She still had chubby cheeks and she's so full of life and so energetic. Leona is great with her. She bounces between calling her Angie and Gina. I just hope that she doesn't confuse her sister." "You never told me who named Angel." "Leona. Her biological mother's last blood relative had just given her back to us and relinquished her rights a little bit after Angel was born. We hadn't even discussed names the entire pregnancy. Leona said that she named her Angel because she kept our family together. Gina was Leona's way of ensuring that Gino was always with her."

"How is Emily?" "She's working again. She only agreed to go back to work if it was on her terms." "What were her terms?"

 _A knock on the door and the sound of excited but hushed voices let the new parents know that the rest of their family was here. "Come in" Emily said just as the door swung open and Penelope barged past everyone with a handful of gifts and colorful balloons to match. After being assaulted by balloons and ribbons, the rest of the team shuffled into the room and closed the door. "Where are your families?" "Could you imagine all of Emily's family and you guys in here at the same time? We'd all probably have a panic attack." Sean said with a laugh. Penelope looked around for somewhere to place the 10_ _th_ _and final bear as a tug on her dress made her eyes aim at the ground. She was barely able to contain her shriek as she picked Leona up and swung her around. The little girl's laughter caused the rest of the team to notice her. "Leona! You're back" Jack exclaimed as he wrapped her in a bear hug after Garcia placed her back on the ground. All the sudden noise in the room caused Angel to make her presence known with a cry that sounded like annoyance._

" _Sorry" Garcia said as she put her hand over her mouth. Angel instantly quieted and made herself more comfortable in her mother's embrace. Garcia was not impressed and planted her hands on her hips as she tapped her foot. "She is a little princess alright." "Just like her mama", Morgan chimed in from his spot behind his Babygirl. Angel cracked one eye open after Morgan's statement and closed it once more. "She's already full of personality" JJ pointed out. "You're next" Emily said as she motioned towards JJ's pregnant belly. "Oh, would you look at that? We have a future couple on our hands. They are betrothed for each other. I can't wait! It will be the wedding of all weddings after I finish with a more urgent one first." Both Emily and JJ sported wide eyes and panic on their faces. "Babygirl, how much Lion King have you been watching?" "More than I care to admit." Sean decided to rescue both women, "How about we let JJ have the little guy first and go from there." Emily nuzzled her head into his neck, silently thanking him, before passing Angel to Hotch first. Emily sat panicked but content as she watched Angel be passed around from person to person before being placed back into her arms. After letting both Jack and Leona hold her, with adult supervision, Sean placed her in the bassinet next to Emily's bed._

" _Sean, can I talk to Emily for a second?" Emily looked at Hotch quizzically while Sean nodded and ushered everyone out. Emily sat up a little more in bed, "Everything okay Hotch?" "She is really beautiful." "Thank you. Before you say anything else, listen to what I'm about to say. Stop apologizing. There has been a lot of secrets and unsaid things from all of us. Don't stay in the past. Angel's here and everything else will work itself out." Emily smirked at his confused thinking face. "Well that cuts about half of my conversation out. The thing that I wanted to run by you was something that Strauss said. The director wants to start a BAU here in New York. There is a lot of law enforcement here that could be considered for the team leader position but I recommended you. Strauss has seen how you handle our paperwork and was impressed. The both of us backed you with the director and he says that the job is yours if you want it. I know that you have things to consider with two children and-" "I'll take it but only under my terms. I get to pick my team, we get a jet, we relay information and sometimes team up with you guys in Quantico, and there is a daycare facility on-site." "Is that all? I think that everything you want can be done. I thought that I'd have to cajole you more but that was easy."_

" _I love my girls and all but I've been losing my mind staying at home. I can be a badass agent and a baking mom. I think I have it in the bag." Hotch laughed, "I think so too."_

"She is now team leader and back working for the FBI. She hasn't traveled that much or used the daycare facility she so desperately wanted. We haven't been able to keep our parents at bay. They've been tag teaming taking care of Angel since Emily went back to work last month." "Sounds like things are looking up for the future of the Hotchner family." Sean hung his head and let out a deep breath. "Is this the part where we talk about the past of the Hotchner family?" "How about we save that for next time?" A dinging sounded alerted both men that their session was up.


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Just a filler chapter because I feel so bad for the long update.**

"I guess it's time to talk about the past of Sean Hotchner", Sean started off as he leaned back into the large plush chair. His therapist merely nodded and leaned back in his chair. "My first memory of how bad my childhood was goes back to when I was 4. My old man came home from work pissed about something. That's not saying much because he was always pissed off about something. This particular day, I think he lost a case and a murderer walked away without serving any time. Apparently, the guy was a child murderer and my dad took a gamble with his case and lost. My mom tried talking to him and all he could do was snap at her. Aaron was getting ready to head off to boarding school. He and my dad had a really bad relationship after a while. Boarding school was my dad's way of solving the problem. Anyways, he got in my mom's face and I could see her backing up into the kitchen. He wouldn't stop screaming at her and she was crying. I tried to pull him off of her and he smacked me hard. I felt the blood running down my lip and I remember using my shirt to wipe the blood." "What did your father do?" "He didn't even flinch. He never turned around. He kept going for my mom. Aaron was outside and I started screaming his name. He came inside and saw my face and he wiped my tears away. He charged at my dad and started to fight him back." "What happened next?" "He took a horrible beating for it. My dad kicked and punched him over and over. I just…I just froze." "You were 4 years old Sean. You had every right to be afraid." "My mom was screaming. She tried running to the phone and my dad caught her by the neck before she could get there. I couldn't move. I watched him beat her until she was on the floor and bleeding. God, there was so much blood." Sean took a much needed break to take a deep breath, but he only succeeded in choking on the sob that he was desperately trying to hold in.

"My dad got tired after a while and went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He had just beat my mother and brother in front of me and went to grab a fucking beer to quench his thirst. He turned around and saw me. I was so scared but I remember not moving an inch. I heard my mom moaning and crawling on the kitchen floor. He heard it too and turned around to kick her in the stomach until she stopped moving. He turned back to me and he laughed. I didn't know what he was laughing at until I looked down and saw that I had peed on myself. What kind of reaction is that?" "Sean, you were a child. Urinating on yourself is a natural reaction for a child paralyzed with fear. You can't keep blaming yourself for not doing anything. It wasn't your responsibility nor your brother's to try and stop your father. Your mother isn't to blame either. The only person at blame is your father. He chose to strike his family. He chose to keep his family consumed with fear and guilt. None of this was your fault. You did what you had to do in that moment." "I'm not 100% sold on that doc." "Would you like to pick up where we left off?" "Yeah sure. I peed my pants and my old man smacked me hard and told me that maybe I was born a girl because men don't piss themselves. I was crying and he reached back to do it again but Aaron stopped him. He got in-between us and whispered to me 'Hide and Seek'."

"What was the significance of saying that?" "It was my favorite game and I knew that it meant hiding in my secret place. I grew up in a house with a lot of crawlspaces. Aaron knew that telling me to hide, I'd go in one of those places. My dad either didn't know or care because he never found me. I don't know what he did to Aaron or my mom after that. It was a while before Aaron came and got me. He told me that I didn't have to worry about dad anymore and that me and mom were going to get a fresh start with our aunt. I ended up spending the rest of my childhood split between New Jersey and Seattle." "Why Seattle?" "Aaron was there. He had promised me that rain, sun, sleet, or hail that he would always be a good role model for me. Aaron taught me how to be a man. Although I was rough around the edges for a while, he taught me how to solve my problems with my words instead of my hands. I'm pretty sure that without him in my life, I'd be dead by now or in jail. There are times when I feel like Aaron taught me so much about being a man and taking care of my mother…that he lost his way at some point. Can we stop here today?" "We only have about 15 minutes left so, yes we can stop here for today." Sean returned home to see Haley with Angel. "Hey Hay." "Hey you", Haley said as she turned around to face Sean. "Where are IKE and MIKE?" "Outside in the treehouse…as usual." "Aren't you happy that Emily and I caved and built them one?" "Something like that. Something on your mind?" "Huh?"

Haley laughed at Sean. "You make the same face that Aaron does when you're thinking about something but not sure if you actually want to say it out loud. Believe me, I lived with that look for years so I definitely know. What's up Blondie?" "Ugh! I hate it when you call me Blondie. You've been doing that since you-" "Started dating Aaron", Haley finished. "Haley, did you ever notice a change with Aaron? Was there something major that made his behavior or attitude change long-term?" "That's a question you need to ask him. He's more willing to answer you than you think.


	33. Chapter 33

"Is this really happening?" Emily said out loud as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. The door swung open and Leona came running in the room and clutched onto Emily. "Careful marshmallow" Emily said as she gripped her abdomen a little tighter. "Sorry mommy", Leona said as she snuggled her face into her mother's upper thigh. Emily smiled and reached a hand down to stroke her daughter's hair. "Where's your sister?" "She's with Henry and Miss Jen." A knock at the door caused Emily to turn around.

"Are you ready?" Jackson asked as he poked his head in. "Ready as I'll ever be." "You look beautiful." Emily playfully rolled her eyes and self-consciously ran a hand over her attire once more. "Mommy. You're the prettiest princess in the whole wide world." Leona beamed up at her mother. "For the amount of headaches that this day has given me, it better be perfect from start to finish" Emily grumbled out low enough for only her father to hear. "It will be. Let's get this show on the roll." Emily grabbed her father's extended forearm and grabbed Leona's hand with her free one. The three walked outside of the large suite that Elizabeth reserved for the bridal party. The trio walked out into the bigger room and the gasps in the room caused Emily to blush and look at the ground. Garcia was the first to jump up and charge towards Emily but she stopped short just as she got to Emily, causing the brunette's brow to furrow. "Problem Pen?" Emily asked and her eyes bore into the pair of blue ones in front of her. Emily watched with a humorous expression as Garcia's face changed quite a few times in a short span of time. "Look here missy. You may not care about your dress getting wrinkled, but I do, therefore an air-hug will suffice." Emily gave into Garcia and gave her an air-hug with a slight eye roll.

Emily and the rest of her bridal party made it downstairs and she groaned loudly at the horse drawn carriage that awaited them. Emily looked down at Leona, "Earmuffs marshmallow" and waited until she complied before turning her gaze back to her family. "There's no way in hell that I'm getting in that. This is a wedding not a Cinderella story." "But it could-" With a raised finger, "Don't Penelope. This dress is compromise enough." "Compromise? Sly, you're in a champagne colored wedding dress with black highlights. Where is the white that 'the bride' is supposed to wear?" Payson asked with a hand on her hip. Emily dramatically lifted her bouquet to show off white flowers with a black and champagne ribbon holding it together. "The white is right here!" The rest of Emily's sisters laughed at her defiance. Ashlynn turned around and smiled as her back-up plan arrived right on time. Emily was about to say something when her attention was directed towards the back of the group. She smiled widely, "That's my girl! Thank you Whit!" Emily squealed as she immediately jumped into one of the 5 all-black Jeep Hurricanes. Jackson laughed as everyone but Leona displayed their distaste in their transportation. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Lindsey asked softly.

Emily climbed into the Jeep and settled in as she spoke loudly, "No offense but my wedding, my rules." Sean and his groom party heard, rather than saw, Emily's form of transportation. "Is that what I think it is?" Morgan asked with a chuckle. "Gotta love my soon-to-be wife." Sean said with a laugh as he adjusted his bowtie and waited impatiently for his bride. Emily's heels clacked on the floor and they all walked in. Rossi, their forced officiate, cleared his throat as he motioned for them to get the ball rolling. "Why aren't we doing this ceremony properly and at least in a proper setting?" Elizabeth whispered to Diem. "Ahem…..my wedding, my rules" Emily whispered back not so softly. Leona laughed a little and took her place in Haley's lap, next to Jack; Angel was propped up in Jordana's lap. Sean smiled at Emily and pulled her towards him and leaned down to whisper to her, "You sure about this?" "Are you?" "Why here?" "Why not? It is where we met." Rossi cleared his throat loudly and Emily and Sean laughed before murmuring an apology. "Difficult 1 and Difficult 2 wanted things to go their way, so they have written their own vows. This ought to be entertaining." Rossi successfully dodged Emily's swat as Sean reached for her hand. Rossi's last phrase was "Now you may say your wedding vows".

"A,E,I,O,U" Emily laughed loudly before she jabbed his shoulder, "Are you ever serious?" "Sometimes Y?" She laughed again, "Sean, be serious." "Yeah daddy. Act your age not your shoe size" Leona said with a snicker. "Have you been teaching her that?" Sean asked. "Will you just say your VOWS please?" Emily whined.

Sean stood up straighter but Emily knew he was up to no good. "Emily, I promise to fight by your side during a zombie apocalypse. Should you become a zombie, I promise to let you bite me so that I can become one too. I vow to still grab your butt even when you're old and wrinkled. I promise to trust you even when we deviate from our grocery lists, GPS navigations, baby names, and life goals." Sean leaned closer to Emily, "PS, your ass belongs to me now." Sean straightened back up and smiled at Emily, who only served to dissolve into laughter. "Beat that Em."

Emily held in the rest of her laughter and grabbed Sean's bowtie before pulling him closer to her, "I vow to pretend I'm interested in your latest video game obsession. I promise to tell you that all your recipes are good even if dog food tastes better. I promise to hold your boys up when everything on you starts to droop. I promise to love you, respect you, support you, and above all else, make sure that I'm not just yelling at you because I'm hungry. And lastly, I promise to take care of you when your old as dirt, but the first time you hit me with your cane, I'll wash your dentures in toilet water. Love you always baby."

Rossi grabbed what he'd left on the counter and gave all the adults one, but not before Ashlynn switched one of them out, and walked towards the couple. Emily and Sean looked at their family and friends, who were all still laughing at their outrageous wedding vows, and said simultaneously "What? Those are important promises to keep." Rossi handed them both a glass and lifted his into the air. "This goes down in history as the best wedding ever. Now, you two kiddos are latched together by legal papers. Don't ever split cause the lawyers will bleed you dry. To Sean and Emily" Rossi finished with his glass raised high. Everyone followed suit but not before Emily took a quick glance to Ashlynn, who smiled in response, before she lifted the glass to her mouth. Sean and Emily danced with their daughters for a while before coming together as one in the middle of the small dancefloor. "So, we're married now? Feel any different?" Sean asked. Emily pecked him once on the lips, "Not an ounce. The Double Deuce bar was a good idea, right?" "Well I do believe you said that this was the place we met." "It was. We met right over there when you were botching Karaoke." "Hey hey don't make fun. This moment right here proves that I'm Simply Irresistable." Emily swatted him, "Don't hit your husband or I'll have to soak your dentures in toilet water." "Funny. I don't have dentures." "You just wait." Emily laughed and laid her head on his shoulder. "Sean, there's something I need to tell you." "Me too but you tell me first. " Emily's silence made Sean hold her a little tighter. "I know you're pregnant." Emily was shocked but didn't let him see it, "Give me a little credit. I am the brother of and married to a profiler. The look you shared with Whit gave you away." "What did you have to tell me?"

Sean pushed away from Emily slightly and cupped her face, "You were always my best kept secret.


End file.
